The Global Leadership Report delivers insights into priority mining issues through interviews with 20+ top executives and experts and an industrywide survey.

Limited availability of renewable energy and delays rolling out low-emission vehicles are holding back progress in mining’s decarbonisation drive, according to Mining Journal Intelligence’s (MJI) Global Leadership Report 2024: Net zero.

Large mining companies have almost universally committed to net zero carbon emissions from their operations by 2050 or earlier, putting them in line or ahead of Paris Agreement goals aimed at limiting global warming.

But lagging development of electric or low-emission mining fleets – particularly open-pit mining vehicles – and patchy renewable electricity availability threaten to derail progress unless solutions are found, according to the report.

The Global Leadership Report provides unique insights into top mining priorities, gathered from interviews with more than 20 mining company executives and experts, plus an annual survey completed by more than 200 industry professionals.

This year, 17 executives from large mining companies (market cap over US$1 billion) were interviewed, representing firms with a combined market cap of about US$270 billion, along with six respected decarbonisation and ESG industry experts.

More than half of the mining executives identified lagging low-emission vehicle development as a top challenge on the path to net zero, with a similar proportion mentioning the lack of available renewable power in some places.

The concerns were mirrored in the Global Leadership Survey. More than half (57.2%) of respondents said a lack of government investment in low-carbon electricity was holding back decarbonisation, compared with just 18.0% who said it wasn’t. About half (50.9%) said they don’t expect low-emission vehicles to be available to fully meet the industry’s needs for at least five years.

The Global Leadership Report 2024: Net zero report also provides insights into the industry’s top decarbonisation strategies and the complexities around Scope 3 emissions reporting. MJI’s research also reveals divisions in the industry’s attitudes toward decarbonisation – including scepticism around how realistic net zero is as a goal for mining.