On Dec. 10, FMG said Elizabeth Gaines would step down as CEO once a successor was found as the miner would transform from a pure iron ore producer into a diversified renewable energy and resources company. Gaines, who has led the world's fourth-largest iron ore miner for the past four years, will remain on Fortescue's board as a non-executive director and assist in finding a new CEO.
Gaines managed FMG during the boom in iron ore prices. FMG's share price rose from about $3.60 at the end of 2018 to $18 on Dec. 10. The stock was closely tied to iron ore prices until about a month ago, when Gaines said it was "decoupled." This reflects the recognition that FMG's Green Hydrogen Strategy for the Future Industries is changing the perception of the stock, she said.
The move comes at a time when Andrew Forrest, chairman of FMG and Australia's richest man, pushed to transform the company into the world's largest green energy conglomerate, with a particular focus on its green power arm, Fortescue Future Industries.
Forrest praised Gaines, who has worked at the company for 9 years, as one of Australia's "truly inspiring leaders".
Forrest said FMG's senior management needs a wider range of skills, including experience in renewable energy, green hydrogen, heavy industry, manufacturing and infrastructure development. Forrest and Gaines will work with the board of directors and executive search firm Egon Zehnder to find a new CEO, who says the ideal CEO candidate will understand and embrace FMG's culture and be able to manage a global company.
In October, Forrest set an ambitious target of producing 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year by 2030, which can be sold to customers in Asia as green hydrogen or green ammonia for use as fertilizer.
The company has pledged 10 percent of its annual profits after tax to green promotions and is counting on funding from other investors to advance its projects.
In fact, the four major miners (Vale, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, FMG) have been working hard to work with steel companies to promote the low-carbon transformation of the entire industrial chain, and have announced their carbon emission reduction targets in the past two years.
In February 2020, Rio Tinto announced that it would achieve net zero emissions (i.e., carbon neutrality) from its global operations by 2050, reduce its corporate carbon intensity by 30% from 2018 levels by 2030, and reduce its absolute carbon emissions by 15% compared to 2018 levels. Rio Tinto has also pledged to invest at least $1 billion by 2025 to actively address the challenges posed by climate change.
In May 2020, Vale announced its carbon reduction targets to reduce net emissions from Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 33% by 2030 from 2018 levels, and to promote carbon neutrality in the Group's mining operations by 2050. To this end, Vale plans to invest $4 billion to $6 billion upfront to reduce net emissions from Scope 1 and Scope 2.
In September 2020, BHP Billiton released a report on corporate climate change challenges and proposed its own carbon reduction targets. The Company plans to reduce the Group's direct and indirect emission levels by 30% compared to the 2019-2020 fiscal years (July 1, 2029 to June 30, 2030) levels by 30% compared to the 2019-2020 fiscal years (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020) and achieve carbon neutrality in the company's operating business by 2050.
In June 2020, FMG announced its carbon reduction target, which is to reduce absolute carbon emissions from existing operations by 26% from 2020 levels by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality in corporate operations by 2040. On March 15, 2021, FMG announced that it will advance the previously announced time to achieve carbon neutrality by 10 years, that is, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
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Source | Overseas mining investment inquiries, a little ink, China Metallurgical News