A mining multinational will transition away from fossil fuels in less than six years.
Vale recently confirmed it would only use environmentally friendly energy across all mine sites worldwide.
This will affect the Belvedere coal project (195km west of Rockhampton).
“The company still has the challenge of achieving 100 per cent renewable energy consumption in its global operations by 2030. At the moment this indicator stands at 88.5 per cent,” the company said in a public statement.
The employer plans to reduce direct scope one emissions through adopting ethanol for trucks, green ammonia for locomotives and other so-called alternative fuels. Pelletising furnaces will use zero-emission biocarbon from carbonised biomass instead of traditional coal.
“Vale [has already] signed an agreement with Wabtec for the supply of three electric locomotives and the start of studies into the development of a green ammonia-powered locomotive engine. The company also produced pellets with 100 per cent biocarbon for the first time,” it said.
The strategy has already been rolled out across multiple Brazilian sites that now run on hydroelectric, wind and solar power plants. A total of US$590 million (A$917.4M) was invested in the new Sol do Cerrado solar complex, which boasts a 766 megawatt capacity that can support 800,000 residents.
“As we are progressing on our targets we are helping to make … [the] energy matrix even cleaner, contributing to society’s fight against climate change,” energy and decarbonisation director Ludmila Nascimento said.
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