Engagement Strategy
Engagement with Value Chain
In FY25, 98 per cent of our Scope 3 emissions originated from downstream processing of sold products (Category 10) with less than one per cent from purchased goods and services and one per cent from shipping. To address these emissions we focus on engaging with our downstream supply chain and investing in technology and R&D to develop a green metal value chain and processing solutions.
Fortescue actively engages with key regions, including China, South-East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Australia, to address market demands and decarbonisation trajectories.
Green Metal Project at Christmas Creek
As global interest in green metal continues to grow, Fortescue is at the forefront of leading, innovative technology to meet future demand for supply.
Currently, the more mature pathway to producing green metal uses very high-grade, low gangue iron ore which Australia typically does not produce.
Less than 5 per cent of Australia’s iron ore production is potentially compatible for making iron in a single process step with existing direct-reduction ironmaking technology that can be converted to run on green hydrogen.
To secure the long-term green metal opportunity for Australia, it is essential to demonstrate that our Pilbara hematite ores can be used commercially to produce green metal.
Our goal is to produce meaningful quantities of commercially representative green metal from Pilbara hematite in FY27 to create a catalyst for the next generation of the Australian iron industry.
Fortescue’s Christmas Creek Green Metal Project is a significant step forward in the Company’s ambition to produce green metal on a commercial scale in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
It is located in our Green Energy Hub precinct at Christmas Creek, adjacent to Australia’s largest gaseous and liquid hydrogen plant on a mine site – which has a design capacity of around 530 kilograms of hydrogen daily or around 195 tonnes annually.
Construction of the pilot plant at Christmas Creek has commenced. The facility is expected to produce more than 1,500 tonnes per annum once fully operational. It was sized on the volume of hydrogen available from the adjacent existing hydrogen production facility. Locating the pilot facility at Christmas Creek, located approximately 100 kilometres north east of Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, allows us to demonstrate a “green pit to product” supply chain, in which iron ore is mined and processed into high purity metal using low-emission technologies.
The concept of “green pit to product” encompasses mining our iron ore with electric excavators and loading it onto battery electric haul trucks for processing at our ore processing facility using renewable power. This ore is then delivered to the green metal plant for processing. The plant will prepare the ore for the green metal process. This concept involves:
1. Some initial processing to ensure consistent ore sizing, followed by heating using renewable energy.
2. Using hydrogen produced onsite, the ore is then reduced to metallised ore then:
3. Further processing in a renewable energy powered electric smelting furnace to produce high purity green metal.
4. The finished product can be handled and transported via our rail network to our port operations at Port Hedland.
5. The green metal can then be loaded onto decarbonised ships for export to China and other markets for use in almost any steel plant globally. The ironmaking technology for the project is expected to produce a high-purity iron metal (~95%+ Fe).
Engagement with Industry
Industry engagement is focused on developing a green metal value chain and scaling solutions to mitigate hard-to-decarbonise ironmaking and steelmaking processes.
Fortescue is engaged in multiple cross-industry and multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts that aim to raise corporate climate ambition and to drive faster decarbonisation.
Engagement with government, public sector, communities and civil society
Fortescue engages with a broad range of stakeholders, including governments, regulators, public sector organisations, communities, and civil society, to support our strategic ambition. These activities are prioritised to maximise contributions toward achieving Real Zero by aligning advocacy efforts with key assumptions such as regulatory certainty, technological readiness, community acceptance, and market demand for low-emission products.
Snapshot of recent engagement activities
Since Fortescue communicated our first Climate Transition Plan in October 2023, we have undertaken priority public advocacy in alignment with our sustainability objectives.
Davos (January)
Fortescue unveiled its Economics of Decarbonisation Findings. The roundtable “Leading a Profitable and Rewarding Switch to Green Energy” convened financiers, CEOs and climate envoys to stress that Real Zero is not a cost burden but a commercial opportunity.
Munich Security Conference (February)
At “Climate Security in an Age of Conflict”, the roundtable pivoted Real Zero into geopolitical and humanitarian terms; framing fossil fuel elimination as a stabilising force in an era of climate-fuelled disruption.
Hampton Court Palace (March)
The Build Baby Build roundtable, co-hosted with the Sustainable Markets Initiative, brought together executives to examine practical pathways to scale zero emissions infrastructure.
Boao Forum for Asia (March)
Fortescue advanced the case for decarbonisation of China’s steel industry and the opportunities for collaboration on green metal production. This included unveiling the commissioning of a new academic study by Tsinghua University - ‘Blue Skies, Green Cities’ - evidencing the economic and social benefits of rapid decarbonisation for China’s urban environments.
IMO Negotiations, London (April)
Co-hosted with the Government of Singapore, the Green Pioneer Reception targeted legally binding decarbonisation measures for global shipping. Fortescue demonstrated a working dual-fuel ammonia vessel and argued that Real Zero fuels are not future fantasy - but early adoption of these fuels is now possible.
Bauma Industry Lecture, Munich (April)
Fortescue presented Real Zero to the heavy industry sector, showing that electrification, hydrogen and ammonia are technically viable and commercially rational in mining, transport, and construction.
United Nations Ocean Conference 3 and Nor-Shipping Conference (June)
Ocean climate policy and industrial decarbonisation converged. At the Monaco Green Shipping Roundtable and Oslo’s Ocean Leadership Conference, Fortescue argued that shipping emissions must be cut through Real Zero fuel systems, not paper offsets or LNG lock-in.
