A recent Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report shows that in 2015, half of worldwide industrial greenhouse gas emissions could be traced back to just 50 companies working in heavy fossil fuel industries. Mining companies, particularly those involved in coal extraction, ranked high on the list, taking two of the top five spots and 20 spots overall. Meeting the goal of the Paris Agreement will require these companies to significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they release and, in some cases, the types of resources they extract.

The behavioral, policy, technological and regulatory changes needed to drive the mining industry’s carbon reductions are examined in a new Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) report, Decarbonization Pathways for Mines: A Headlamp in the Darkness. A roadmap for CO2 emissions reduction should include setting emissions reduction targets in line with climate science, tracking progress rigorously, consistently and publicly, evaluating long-term climate risks and opportunities and actively seeking out and developing technologies Source: RMIand strategies to reduce carbon emissions.

Mining companies have an array of options to choose from when planning for operational emissions reductions, including leveraging new technologies and innovations to add renewables to their electricity supply, improving mining processes, switching from fossil fuels to renewable fuels, reducing waste and optimizing transportation.

Planning for the physical risks accompanying the new normal of a climate-changed world should encompass consideration of stressed water resources and damaged supply chain routes due to more frequent and extreme natural disasters. Vulnerable areas in business strategies must be identified so as to implement measures that make them as resilient as possible.

As financial risks and opportunities also arise with a climate-changed world, companies are advised to voluntarily and consistently disclose climate-related financial risk to investors, lenders, insurers and other stakeholders.

Companies must also set targets and take action in order to mitigate this risk. The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a joint initiative of CDP, the World Resources Institute, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the United Nations Global Compact encourages businesses to set ambitious emissions reduction targets in accord with decarbonization level required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees C compared to pre-industrial temperatures, as described in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5).

More than 120 companies have set SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets in line with climate science and the goals of the Paris Agreement, and an additional 320 companies are committed to following suit. However, no mining company has an SBTi-approved target yet.