“I want to be proud of BHP – we are not now,” he said. He invited the board to “come to Muswellbrook” to see the effect on the local community. Martin Rush, the mayor of nearby Muswellbrook, told the meeting children in the area were getting sick from coal dust spewed out by the mine, which broke environmental laws eight times in seven years. He said BHP had “no immediate plans to invest in it because of the dwindling or relatively low rate of growth of demand” for thermal coal as the world decarbonises. Many questions focused on the operations and future of the Mount Arthur coal mine in NSW, which fuels a power plant, Liddell, that is set to close in 2023 unless it gets a government bailout.Īndrew Mackenzie said he expected the mine to keep operating for decades but kept open the option of selling it. Over almost four hours, shareholders also peppered MacKenzie and the chief executive, Andrew Mackenzie, with questions over issues including dust pollution caused by its mines, its decision to set up an in-house labour hire firm, the deadly Samarco mine disaster and its involvement with a project to explore for copper and gold in an area close to the dangerous border with Colombia. On preliminary figures, 29.58% of shares at the Sydney meeting were voted in favour of the ACCR’s resolution, which had the backing of shareholders including Vision Super, tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, the UK’s biggest listed fund manager, Standard Life Aberdeen, and an important industry super fund adviser, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors. MacKenzie said that “industry associations provide a range of benefits that are not recognised in the resolution”, including the opportunity for BHP to lead the development of new standards covering issues including the environment.Īnd he stressed the company’s “real commitment” to fighting the climate crisis, which includes spending US$400m to reduce BHP’s emissions, the reduction of so-called “scope 3” emissions made by its customers and linking executive pay to environmental results. “Will I need to come back for this dance again next year, asking the same questions?” she asked. “We see ourselves as a force for good.”ĪCCR executive director Brynn O’Brien told MacKenzie the issue was “not going away”. “In other cases, we work within,” he said. He pointed out that BHP quit the World Coal Association over its position on the Paris agreement, which commits governments to action to hold global heating to below 2C. “If we see that there is misalignment between an industry association and our position, then we will act,” he said. BHP is set to announce whether it will leave the MCA within two months, with its chairman, Ken MacKenzie, telling the Sydney meeting the company’s review of its membership of industry associations would be finished by the end of the year.
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