Teck expands its climate action strategy

Teck Resources Ltd. Feb. 25 announced an expansion to its climate action strategy, which includes a new short-term goal to achieve net-zero "Scope 2" greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and an ambition to achieve net-zero "Scope 3" emissions by 2050, building on the Canada-based company's existing commitment to achieving net-zero emissions across its global operations by 2050.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, greenhouse gas emission (GHG) inventory is a list of emission sources and the associated emissions quantified using standardized methods.

Scope 1 and Scope 2 are classified as inventory benchmarks regarding emissions with the former being direct GHG emissions that occur from sources that are controlled or owned by an organization, and the latter being indirect GHG emissions associated with the purchase of energy (electricity, steam, heat, or cooling). Scope 3 are all other emissions associated with a company's activities.

"Teck is committed to reducing emissions across our operations and throughout the value chain of our products," said Teck Resources President and CEO Don Lindsay. "This expanded climate strategy builds on the progress we have made so far to reduce our GHG footprint and to support global action on climate change."

Under this more ambitious strategy, Teck has set additional climate goals and will take further actions to reduce emissions across all activities, including operations and the downstream value chain.

"We will work closely with our customers and suppliers to support their own emissions reductions and achieve our net-zero Scope 3 ambition, while continuing to provide the metals and minerals essential to the world's transition to a low-carbon economy," continued Lindsay.

Operational emissions goals, which include GHG emissions from energy sources owned and operated by Teck, as well as emissions related to the generation of purchased electricity used by the company are:

• Achieve net-zero GHG emissions across operations by 2050.

• Achieve net-zero Scope 2 GHG emissions by 2025 – the most recent addition to the company's strategy.

• Accelerate the adoption of zero-emissions alternatives for transportation by replacing the equivalent of 1,000 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2025 in its mobile equipment fleets.

• Reduce the carbon intensity of its operations by 33% by 2030.

"Teck is already one of the world's lowest carbon-intensity producers of copper, zinc and steelmaking coal and we are committed to further reducing the carbon footprint of our activities to support a cleaner future," added the Teck CEO.

Thus, the company's value chain emission goals, which include GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by other entities downstream of its value chain, including the transportation and usage of Teck's products – of which 90% relate to the use of steelmaking coal by the company's coal customers – are set to engage on Scope 3 activities.

As Teck does not have direct control over steelmaking production processes and associated Scope 3 GHG emissions, the company has stated that it will work to partner and accelerate decarbonization pathways by supporting the application of technologies such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage necessary to achieve its customers' net-zero Scope 1 and 2 commitments, and consequently, its own net-zero Scope 3 ambition.

With more than 50% of Teck Resources' steelmaking coal sales being made to customers who have made public commitments to be net-zero by 2050 or sooner, the company expects the trend to increase over time.

The most significant addition to its already phenomenal decarbonization plan come in this category:

• Achieve net-zero Scope 3 GHG emissions by 2050.

• Support partners in advancing GHG reduction solutions capable of reducing the global carbon intensity of steelmaking by 30% by 2030.

• Partner with customers and transportation providers to establish low-emission supply chain corridors for the transportation of its products, as well as support a 40% reduction in shipping emission intensity by 2030 for its contracted shipping.

So far, Teck reports it has already begun taking concrete steps toward achieving Scope 3 reductions associated with transportation with an announcement made last November, in a partnership with Oldendorff Carriers, to employ energy efficient bulk carriers for shipments of its steelmaking coal.

The company estimates that this change alone could reduce up to 45,000 metric tons of CO2 annual, the equivalent of removing nearly 10,000 internal combustion engine passenger vehicles from roads.