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Advocacy on climate policy

BHP supports the aims of the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. The world must work toward these aims with increased levels of national and global ambition to limit the impacts of climate change.

Achieving the aims of the Paris Agreement will require supportive policy across jurisdictions, globally. The policy-making process is complex, and change is unlikely to be smooth or linear. We believe BHP can best support policy development by ensuring we meet our own climate targets, goals, and strategies, continuing to make the case for the economic opportunities arising from the energy transition, and focusing on those policy areas where we are likely to have the greatest ability to influence change. 

Our Climate Policy Principles outlines our views on how governments can best pursue the aims of the Paris Agreement, with a focus on both the principles we believe should guide how governments approach policymaking, and the policy outcomes we believe governments should seek.

We first released our Climate Policy Principles (then referred to as our Global Climate Policy Standards) in August 2020. Reflecting recent changes to our strategy and portfolio, and the evolving nature of climate policy debates, we published an updated version of our Climate Policy Principles in May 2023. 

We commit to conducting our own advocacy efforts consistent with our Climate Policy Principles, and to use our Climate Policy Principles to influence the advocacy of the industry associations of which we are a member. 

Our approach to direct advocacy is outlined below, while information on the climate policy advocacy of our industry association memberships is available here

Our direct advocacy

BHP engages directly and regularly with governments on issues relating to climate change and the transition to net zero GHG emissions. We remain committed to developing policy advocacy positions that align with our support for global efforts to meet the aims of the Paris Agreement, harnessing opportunities to decarbonise our operations as cost effectively as possible, and promoting policies that support our key markets, including for commodities with significant positive exposure to the energy transition.

Summary of our positions on climate policy

Our key positions on climate policy, as represented in our Climate Policy Principles, are outlined below.

 

Our advocacy on climate policy

The document below lists our direct advocacy on climate policy since July 2021. It focuses on advocacy that originates from BHP and is publicly available (such as submissions to consultation processes, speeches from senior leaders, and media releases).