Climate change | Thungela

We support the global climate change response and the drive to make the energy transition just. This transition brings us closer to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society in the context of sustainable development. Energy security, affordability and access all form part of our strategy to ensure shared value for all stakeholders.

Our goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. We are actively reducing our carbon intensity through various energy efficiency initiatives. We also disclose our climate risks and opportunities.

Our climate change strategy

Managing our emissions

In the short- to medium-term, our strategy is to reduce our own Scope 1 and 2 emissions through the implementation of energy efficiency and productivity improvement projects across our operations, the installation of at least 19 MW of renewable energy, and the responsible closure of mines as they reach the end of their operational lives.

Pathway to net zero

In the longer term, we have adopted a scenario-based approach to chart our path to net zero, using the IEA World Energy Outlook 2022 scenarios (see page 60 for the scenario analysis). It is important to remember that scenarios are not forecasts or predictions and that accurately predicting the future is challenging, even in the short term.

Scenario analysis assists us in identifying key drivers of change and enables us to inform decision-making and evaluate business resilience against a set of divergent, but plausible, futures. It also highlights the potential risks and opportunities associated with these.

To meet our 2050 net zero target, two distinct pathways are available, and are informed by climate scenarios. The route we take relies on a critical inflection point — the pace of decarbonisation globally. Given uncertainty over the future, these pathways provide us with a framework for decision-making based on triggers that may occur. Global trends and dynamics are reviewed annually to ascertain which plausible pathway we may be on so that we can be agile and adaptive in our decision-making.

The STEPS and APS both see coal demand declining more moderately than the net zero pathway and have been combined in our pathways as ‘slow transition’. The ‘accelerated decarbonisation’ pathways are aligned with the NZE.

The pathways give us the flexibility to adjust our approach to achieving our net zero target as the world evolves.

Our climate-related risks and opportunities

A third-party performed scenario analysis using climate models to understand future potential climatic changes and identify adaptation requirements to build climate resilience. It also provided insight into what the future demand for our products may be to guide future decision-making.A physical and transitional climate risk assessment was performed across our operations, critical infrastructure and export destinations. This quantitative assessment included an examination of relevant acute and chronic physical climate risks as well as market and regulatory risks, and changes in exposure under various climate scenarios. In addition, it determined high-level climate impacts and vulnerabilities on our operations, employees, communities and customers. The assessment covered two time horizons to inform nearterm (2030) and long-term (2050) decision-making.

Physical risks identified are sea level rise, increased average rainfall, droughts, storms and extreme weather events. Transitional risks identified are policy and legal , market drivers and reputation.

For more information on the risks identified and our mitigation measures please refer to the climate change report

Climate change and energy

As the world moves towards a low-carbon economy, we recognise the role we must play in reducing our emissions and supporting the accelerated rollout of a fuel-agnostic, technology-driven approach to reducing global emissions.