Teck Resources has announced a target to reduce its carbon intensity by 33% by 2030 as part of its new sustainability strategy and goals.

This news builds on Teck’s previously announced commitment to be carbon neutral across all its operations and activities by 2050. It also follows the company announcing it was withdrawing the regulatory application for the Frontier oil sands project in Alberta, Canada.

Don Lindsay, President and CEO, said: “At Teck, we are always challenging ourselves to improve sustainability performance, so we can be sure we are providing the mining products needed for a cleaner future in the most responsible way possible.

“We have set ambitious new goals for carbon reduction, water stewardship, health and safety, and other areas because we believe that a better world is made possible through better mining.”

Teck’s sustainability strategy has been updated with new long-term strategic priorities, supported by short-term milestone goals. Highlights include:

• Be a carbon neutral operator by 2050;
• Reduce the carbon intensity of its operations by 33% by 2030;
• Procure 50% of electricity demands in Chile from clean energy by 2020 and 100% by 2030;
• Accelerate the adoption of zero-emissions alternatives for transportation by displacing the equivalent of 1,000 internal combustion engine vehicles by 2025 (a topic IM heard much about at the recent SME MineXchange Annual Conference and Expo);
• Transition to seawater or low-quality water sources for all operations in water-scarce regions by 2040;
• Implement innovative water management and water treatment solutions to protect water quality downstream of all our operations;
• Preferentially consider milling and tailings technologies that use less water for both new mines and any mine life extensions at existing mines;
• Work towards disposing zero industrial waste by 2040;
• By 2025, develop and implement a responsible producer program and “product passport” that is traceable through the value chain;
• By 2025, all operating sites would have and implement plans to secure a net-positive impact on biodiversity;
• Eliminate fatalities, serious injuries and occupational disease;
• Increase the percentage of women working at Teck, including women in leadership positions, and advance inclusion and diversity initiatives across the company by 2025; and
• Achieve greater representation of Indigenous Peoples across the business by 2025 by increasing employment and procurement through business development, capacity-building, education and training opportunities.

In releasing its 2019 Sustainability Report today, Teck showed it had reduced its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 297,000 t of CO2 equivalent since 2011. This is the equivalent of taking 90,500 cars off the road.