By Divya Chowdhury and Anisha Sircar
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Renewables may eventually overtake Fortescue Metals Group’s iron ore business despite strong future commodities tailwinds is high, the company’s former chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said at the Davos conference.
Fortescue will continue to grow its iron ore business, but the scale of the world’s transition to green energy will drive demand for renewable energy much higher, said Gaines, Fortescue’s non-executive director and global green ambassador. said as a bystander at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. at Davos.
Our ambition to grow our iron ore business is endless. However, looking at the scale of the transition to green energy, it is not unreasonable to think that renewable energy will likely significantly outpace our iron ore business in the end.
“Going forward, I think renewable energy will be a very large part of overall revenue.”
The Perth-based company last year said it would spend $6.2 billion to eliminate fossil fuels and achieve “net zero global emissions” across its iron ore operations by the end of the decade.
“There is a view that companies are doing this solely for ESG reasons, but it is also a smart thing to do because the economy is fully stacked,” said Gaines.
As the world’s fourth largest iron ore producer, the company aims to rapidly develop technology to generate green hydrogen and transition from a pure-play iron ore producer to a green energy company. is planned.
The mining company’s Australian renewable energy projects are “very close” to a final investment decision, Gaines said, adding that one of the domestic projects is likely to be the first to receive approval from the board. rice field. For daily Davos updates in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here. To join the GMF hosted on Refinitiv Messenger, click here (Reporting by her Divya Chowdhury in Davos and Anisha Sircar in Bangalore, Editing by Alex Richardson)