Climate Threat

Global Challenges
The world's largest mining giant ignored climate pledges

The world's largest mining giant BHP has postponed or slowed down several major climate initiatives despite promises to reduce emissions. This is shown by internal documents that The Guardian and ABC Four Corners have seen.

This concerns an investment in, among other things, solar and battery power in Australia, the electrification of vehicles and an iron ore project, which could have reduced emissions by 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Something equivalent to taking 350,000 cars out of use.

In recent years, the company has tried to position itself as a leader in the climate transition, with the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

Experts and environmental organizations believe that this is slowing the development of green technology in the mining industry and that the company is undermining its own climate goals.

BHP itself emphasizes that they have reduced their emissions by 36 percent since 2020 and that the technology they need to reach net zero emissions is not yet sufficiently developed.

Fires in North America
US fires break grim records: “Really bad year”

The wildfire season in the US has broken a grim record, reports CNN. Since the beginning of the year, about 30,000 fires have been reported and about two million acres have burned. The situation is also expected to worsen in the coming months.

In southern Georgia, more homes were destroyed than ever before in a rapidly growing fire, and in Nebraska, one person has died in the largest fire in the state's history. Outside Los Angeles on the West Coast, thousands of residents have been urged to evacuate as a result of a wildfire.

– Here we are in May and we are already talking about people losing their homes and their lives. Everything points to a really bad year, says researcher Morgan Varner.

He points to several factors, including drought, little snow and weather changes linked to an emerging super-El Niño.