Unmitigated climate change is expected to significantly impact the global natural environment and can influence or exacerbate existing risks, such as the loss of biodiversity. Nature is essential to climate regulation and offers important opportunities to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The world’s management of climate-related risks (threat and opportunities) is therefore inextricably linked to effective stewardship of nature and vice versa. 

Increased demand for materials critical to the energy transition and population growth risks increasing direct impacts on nature, including from land-use change, water use, pollution and introducing invasive species. Safe and reliable operations and supply chains to produce these commodities depend on the services provided by healthy and functioning ecosystems (e.g. stable water supply and climate regulation).

At the same time, the reduction of global GHG emissions required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement is unlikely without reversing nature loss and preserving and enhancing nature-based carbon sinks provided by forests, wetlands and oceans. The potential impacts of climate change further threaten the environment, making natural systems less capable of withstanding and adapting to ongoing changes in the climate, and releasing further GHG emissions to the atmosphere when natural sinks are damaged or lost.

We acknowledge our mining operations across their life cycle and the associated value chain can have direct and indirect impacts on nature, and our operations and supply chain are dependent on the services provided by healthy and functioning ecosystems.

We are long-term stewards of sizable areas of land and water of which only a small proportion is currently disturbed for our mining and associated activities. Responsible stewardship of this land and water can make a contribution to global goals to restore nature and sustain the ecosystem services on which the world relies.

We recognise the deep connection of Indigenous peoples to their traditional lands and sea country. As outlined in our Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement, we value opportunities to connect with Indigenous peoples to better appreciate the environmental landscape where we operate or seek to operate, and how to avoid, mitigate or better manage our impacts on the local environment. Our Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement is available at the link below.

Our vision is to contribute towards global efforts to halt and reverse nature loss and collective goals on water security, environmental resilience, business resilience and social value.¹ Under our 2030 Healthy environment goal, we seek to create nature-positive² outcomes by having at least 30 per cent of the land and water we steward³ under conservation, restoration or regenerative practices by FY2030. In doing so, we focus on areas of highest ecosystem value, both within and outside our own operational footprint, in partnership with Indigenous peoples and local communities.  We have set Group-level biodiversity and water strategies to align actions and to prioritise areas of highest ecosystem value (within and outside our own operational footprint), as well as working in partnership with Indigenous peoples and local communities. Our biodiversity, land and water strategies, and commitments and goals are available at the links below.

1. Such as relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
2. Nature-positive is defined by the TNFD Glossary version 1.0 as ‘A high-level goal and concept describing a future state of nature (e.g. biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural capital) which is greater than the current state’. We understand it includes land and water management practices that halt and reverse nature loss – that is, supporting healthy, functioning ecosystems. BHP intends to review this definition in FY2025, in light of the recently revised TNFD Glossary version 2.0 (June 2024) definition of nature positive.
3. This excludes areas we hold under greenfield exploration licences (or equivalent tenements), which are outside the area of influence of our existing mine operations. 30 per cent will be calculated based on the areas of land and water that we steward at the end of FY2030.