Leaked documents show how BHP shelved “urgent” climate plans, raising governance concerns
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Mining giant BHP shelved billions of dollars of green projects despite promising shareholders it was committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and telling its board climate action was "urgent," raising serious governance questions for the company.
In the summer of 2019, as heat records were broken across Europe and climate risks grew, BHP’s CEO stood before an audience in London describing global warming as an “existential” threat, urging a mobilisation on the scale of world war. Seven years later, internal documents leaked to the media suggest that the world’s largest mining company quietly deferred or dropped many of the initiatives announced to shareholders and the public.
The documents, obtained and reported by The Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners, exposed a company choosing to drop its climate commitments in the face of the commercial priorities of ensuring a profit from its vast, carbon-intensive mining operation. At the heart of the revelations is a 2025 internal memorandum that explored options to “slam the brakes” on BHP’s decarbonisation strategy across its Western Australian iron ore business, one of the company’s most profitable divisions and largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the investigation, BHP had once developed ambitious plans to transform its Pilbara operations, including the deployment of electric haul trucks and trains powered by large-scale solar and wind installations. Had they followed through, these initiatives would have saved the company millions in fuel costs, particularly as diesel prices climb in the wake of conflict in the Middle East. The leaked files indicate that many of those initiatives were delayed, scaled back or abandoned, even though they had received shareholder and board approval and internal support.
Among the BHP projects affected was a solar and battery installation at the Jimblebar mine, initially approved and funded before being shelved, as well as a larger renewable energy system capable of powering a small city, whose timeline was pushed well into the next decade. Documents also show that the company dropped plans for an iron ore processing facility that could have prevented millions of tonnes of emissions annually, despite describing it internally as aligned with its climate goals.
The ABC and The Guardian stories raise serious governance questions for the company and its relationship with shareholders. At recent annual meetings, BHP shareholders overwhelmingly endorsed the company’s stated climate ambitions—support that, in some discussions cited in the investigations, reached as high as roughly 97% for elements of its climate strategy—showing a broad mandate for decarbonisation among institutional backers. But leaked documents suggest that, even as investors supported transition plans, executives were reconsidering or postponing the measures required to meet them.
Decisions to shelve or delay board-approved projects have prompted scrutiny over internal decision-making, and whether shareholders were given a realistic picture of the pace and scale of the company’s climate action.
For critics, the gap between BHP’s public messaging and internal decision-making underscores a broader challenge facing the global mining industry, which supplies materials essential for the energy transition while remaining deeply reliant on fossil fuels. Whether the company’s long-term pledges—including a commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050—can be met now seems uncertain, as internal documents raise questions about the company’s commitment to decarbonising one of the world’s most resource-intensive businesses.
Read the ABC Four Corners story here.
Read The Guardian story here.
Watch the story on ABC below, or click here.
