Our approach to ensuring Teck remains competitive throughout the shift to a low-carbon economy is focused on ensuring our operations remain efficient and low cost, and having a diversified mix of products to enable us to respond to changing demand.
Meeting Changing Demand
As the world transitions to a low carbon economy there will naturally be shifts in demand for certain commodities – demand for those required for low-carbon technologies may increase while others may decrease. At Teck, our diversified mix of products all have a role to play in the low-carbon economy of the future. This puts us in a strong position to adapt to meet changing market demand.
The minerals and metals we produce — including steelmaking coal, copper and zinc — are some of the basic building blocks of low-carbon technology and infrastructure. We are also investing in the metals needed for the transition to a low-carbon economy by significantly increasing copper production through the construction of our Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 Project in Chile. Copper is an essential material for low-carbon technology, including electric vehicles and renewable power generation.
Remaining Competitive
We are focused on continuing to reduce costs to ensure our mines remain efficient and low-cost. This gives us increased ability to weather potential carbon-related costs and shifts in demand, while remaining competitive. Cost reduction is also supporting carbon reduction at Teck. Measures to improve the efficiency of our operations often also lead to further reductions in the carbon intensity of our mining activities.
As part of our commitment to climate action and responsible resource development, we have set an objective to be carbon neutral across all operations and activities by 2050.
This objective demonstrates Teck’s support of the transition to a low-carbon economy and worldwide efforts to meet the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increase. It also aligns with commitments by Canada and Chile – which are home to the majority of Teck’s operations – to be carbon neutral by 2050.
We have set out an initial roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality by first avoiding emissions and then eliminating or minimizing emissions. This will include looking at alternative ways of moving materials at our mines, using cleaner power sources, and implementing efficiency improvements, among other measures.
Becoming carbon neutral by 2050 builds on our work to date in reducing emissions and advocating for climate policies. Since 2011, Teck has implemented projects and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at our operations by 411,000 tonnes.
As a result of our work to date, Teck is now one of the lowest GHG emission-intensity miners in the world. According to data from the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), our steelmaking coal and copper production rank among the lowest for carbon intensity compared to the global mining industry. Carbon intensity is a measure of the GHG emissions generated during production of a given unit of a commodity – eg: the amount of CO2 generated per tonne of copper or steelmaking coal produced.
We believe that all sectors of the economy must play a role in tackling the challenge of climate change. That is why Teck supports implementation of low-carbon technologies and advocates for measures that support society’s transition to a lower-carbon economy.
Teck is a signatory of the 2015 Paris Pledge, in support of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement provides a global framework for action on climate change, and targets to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
In 2020, we set an objective to be carbon neutral across all operations and activities by 2050. This objective demonstrates Teck’s support of the transition to a low-carbon economy and worldwide efforts to meet the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increase. It also aligns with commitments by Canada and Chile – which are home to the majority of Teck’s operations – to be carbon neutral by 2050.
We are also actively advocating for policies that reduce emissions, including broad implementation of carbon pricing. We believe that broad-based pricing of carbon is one of the most effective ways to incentivize real reductions in GHG emissions by ensuring that all emitters contribute to the solution.
As part of this advocacy, Teck was the first Canadian resource company to join the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, a partnership of national and sub-national governments, businesses, and organizations working toward integrating carbon pricing into the global economy. We are also a member of the Council for Clean Capitalism.
Our primary focus is on taking action now to limit climate change by reducing emissions and advocating for climate action strategies; however, we recognize that ongoing changes to climate could pose a potential physical risk to our mining operations and related infrastructure, such as transportation systems.
These risks could be in the form of increased temperatures, changes in precipitation, changes in freshwater levels or increases in extreme events, such as droughts, floods or storms.
In response, we are incorporating a range of climate parameters into our project designs and ongoing mine planning processes – including closure and reclamation planning – in order to ensure our sites remain resilient as the climate changes.
