Modern Mining April 2022

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Big data analysis key to meeting decarbonisation objective By Manoli Yannaghas MD of Voltvision

Climate change is among the most serious threats modern human ity has ever faced. It is a ‘crisis multiplier’ phenomenon which will not just impact weather patterns, food security and access to basic natural resources such as fresh drinking water, but will likely affect international peace and security over the longer-term.

W hile the climate change debate has raged for years, if not decades, there is now at least consensus around the reality of the threat it poses, and of the broad action that is needed to limit its impact on ecosystems and humanity. This consensus was cemented in November 2021 with the adoption of the Glasgow Pact, by agree ment of 196 countries, following the COP26 climate change summit. This Pact, being the most significant milestone in the fight against climate change to date, aims to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C alive by pledging to phase down the use of fossil fuels and commit to a common timeframe and methodology of reducing national greenhouse emis sion levels. If the objective of the Pact is to be achieved, global emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030 from 2010 levels, and the world will need to reach a state of net-zero emissions by 2050. According to the Science Based Targets Institute (SBTi), a global partnership initiative that aims to drive ambitious climate action in the private sector by enabling com panies to set credible and science-based emission reduction targets, the pathway to achieving that

Founder Malcolm Evans.

target is stringent. Companies, particularly large industrial consumers of fossil fuel energy, will need to implement at least an annual 4.2% linear contrac tion rate in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions until 2035. This will not only facilitate a net-zero scenario by 2050 but, more crucially, will ensure that that the world does not overshoot the 1.5°C before 2035, which some scientists believe could have cata strophic consequences. Taking on such an intensive greenhouse gas emissions reduction programme may seem a daunt ing task, particularly to those industrial consumers of fossil fuel energy, such as the mining sector, which are already tackling myriad other challenges. In fact, it could be said that never has the con fluence of challenges facing the industry been as profound as it is today. Mines are deeper and ore bodies far more complex; energy costs are ris ing as infrastructure and resources are becoming increasingly constrained; geopolitical tensions are increasing; and, of course, commodity price cycles are as fickle as they have always been. These factors are putting exceptional pressure on mining compa nies to control costs and enhance efficiencies, all while improving the safety and environmental per formances of their operations. Such operational challenges are being compounded by increasing regulatory pressure for companies to transparently disclose non-financial related environmental, social and governance – or ‘ESG’ – metrics and informa tion, a task which will inevitably further stretch the resources of individual companies. In such a context, it is little wonder that mining companies could consider the drive to decarbonise their operations a significant imposition and a drain on financial and human resources. What few may

Voltvision founders: Manoli Yannaghas and Malcolm Evans.

48  MODERN MINING  April 2022