Our latest disclosures 

Our most recent climate-related disclosures can be found in the BHP Climate Transition Action Plan 2024 and BHP Annual Report 2024, Operating and Financial Review 6.9 - Climate change.

Our approach  

A changing climate can exacerbate and create physical climate-related risks, which include:

• Acute physical climate-related risks: Extreme climatic events, such as floods, cyclones and heatwaves, that may be more severe or more frequent because of a changing climate
• Chronic physical climate-related risks: The incremental worsening of conditions, such as the gradual increase in the number of extreme heat days over the years, or rising sea level

The mining sector is exposed to both acute and chronic physical climate-related risks because of its remote outdoor operations with labour and physical capital exposed to the elements, and because of its dependency on global value chains. The long lives of mining assets mean they could encounter deteriorating conditions in later decades. Geographically dispersed sites and value chains increase the diversity of physical climate-related impacts we could encounter. 

We are undertaking studies to assess our exposure to physical climate-related risks that draw on science-based climate data. We are working to complete these studies and continue verification and review of results in FY2025. Our approach to evaluating our operational physical climate-related risks is illustrated in the chart below. 

Climate modelling 

We commissioned WTW (one of our insurance advisors) to develop a climate dataset covering our operated assets and some key value chain locations, to develop a more holistic understanding of the potential parameters of our physical climate-related risk exposure and how it may change over time.

This climate dataset is based on the publicly available Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and includes latest generation (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6)) and CMIP5 climate models, applied to our operated assets. The dataset covers more than 20 climate-related hazards potentially relevant to our global operations, such as average temperature, extreme precipitation, and cyclones, which can represent physical climate-related risks. Alongside this we apply local observational climate data and other sources of climate projections. This approach allows us to develop a localised view of potential impacts, including changes in rainfall patterns, average and maximum temperatures and sea level rise.

The climate dataset includes a baseline (CY2001 to CY2020) and projections for three future time horizons (CY2026 to CY2045, CY2046 to CY2065, CY2066 to CY2085) for the following Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change SSP-based GHG emission scenarios:¹

• Low-case: Estimated average global temperature increase of 1.8°C by CY2100 (SSP1-2.6)
• Mid-case: Estimated average global temperature increase of 2.7°C by CY2100 (SSP2-4.5)
• High-case: Estimated average global temperature increase of 4.4°C by CY2100 (SSP5-8.5)

The table below shows the physical climate-related risks that our studies to date indicate could have potential impact for our operated assets (including via impacts in our value chain). The first stage of our analysis looks at our operated assets that are currently producing (excluding New South Wales Energy Coal (NSWEC) and former OZ Minerals sites) and our Jansen potash project. We plan to include currently producing former OZ Minerals sites and to expand and adapt our approach to incorporate our legacy assets and NSWEC in FY2025.

1. Table SPM.1, Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC, CY2021