MayJune 2020 MaiJuin 2020 43 A McKinsey r eport published in J anuary not ed that 28 per c ent of global carbon emis sions ar e scope 3 emis sions fr om min ing with coal combustion and st eel and aluminum pr oduction the big g est contribut ors Scope 1 oper ational and scope 2 off sit e electricity combined ar e estimat ed at one per c ent T her e is gr owing industry r e cognition that scope 3 must be included ICMM updat ed it s climat e chang e position in lat e 2019 t o include a commitment t o collective eng ag ement with thir d parties t o det ermine the best appr oach t o r eporting scope 3 V ale and BHP ha ve vowed in the last six months t o set public scope 3 r eduction g oals in 20 20 It s no small f e at the f ormer s scope 3 emis sions mak e up 95 per c ent of the compan y s carbon f oot print while the lat t er s mak e up 97 per c ent Collaborating for mutual benefit S cope 3 is the hot t opic right now ICMM s Martine z said adding that the incr eased scrutin y will pr ompt mor e collabor a tions between companies and cust omers t o develop str at egies ar ound how t o in vest in clean t echnologies and eng ag e in car bon ac counting acr os s the supply chain One example is EL Y SIS a Montr eal based joint ventur e fr om Rio Tint o and Alcoa that has suc c e s s fully manag ed t o decar boniz e an aluminum smelting pr oc es s that has r emained es sen tially unchang ed sinc e it s in vention in 1886 E L Y SIS is working with the partners t o g ether r esponsible f or 10 per c ent of global aluminum pr oduction and Apple It s the big g est br eak thr ough in the aluminum industry in hist ory explained EL Y SIS s CEO V inc ent Christ It s mind bog gling W e sometimes call it the holy gr ail because of it s uniquenes s Tr aditional methods of aluminum pr oduction which ac count f or one per c ent of annual gr eenhouse g as emis sions ac cor ding t o r esear ch fr om Columbia Cent er on Sust ainability In vestment in volve pas sing an electrical curr ent thr ough a lar g e carbon anode which burns off and emit s carbon dio xide int o the atmospher e T he new t echnology uses an inert anode inst ead and emit s o x yg en EL Y SIS int ends t o commer cializ e the t echnology by 20 2 4 and sold it s f i rst bat ch of carbonfr ee aluminum t o Apple in Dec em ber Construction of a r esear ch f acility in Saguenay Que is underw ay It is scheduled t o open in the second half of 20 20 T his is one of the r a r e cases wher e a br eak thr ough t echnol ogy also bring s incr eased pr oductivity a decr ease in pr oduction cost s and immuniz ation ag ainst t ariffs link ed t o an y carbon pricing mechanism Christ explained He added that ha ving a n in vest or lik e Apple bring s an angle of cust omer view int o what we ar e doing which is very useful T he initiative which has benef it t ed fr om in vestment s of 13 million fr om Apple 55 million fr om Rio Tint o 55 million fr om Alcoa and 120 million in t o t al fr om the f eder al and Quebec g o v ernment s is one of a number of cr os ssect or partnerships borne out of a collective need t o limit the carbon int ensity of sup ply chains Chilean copper miner Codelco is working with BMW t o develop and intr oduc e new sust ainability st andar ds t o the copper supply chain Eur ope s big g est ir on or e miner LK AB has joined f o r c es with st eelmak er S S AB and utility compan y V a t t en f all t o develop what they call f o s sil fr ee st eel And while Rio Tint o maint ains it has limit ed contr o l over scope 3 emis sions the compan y signed an agr eement in the f all with China s lar g est st eelmak er Baowu S t eel Gr oup and T singhua U niversity t o explor e w a ys t o curb carbon emis sions in st eelmaking But whose r esponsibility is it anyway Questions about the r esponsibility of scope 3 emis sions ar e not unique t o the mining sect or ac cor ding t o Suz anne Gr eene manag er of the sust ainable supply chains pr ogr am at the Mas sachuset t s Institut e of T echnology MIT It s acr os s the boar d What part of y our scope 3 do y ou actu ally contr ol What part do y ou pr ocur e What part can y ou dic t a t e what happens Which part is out of y our hands T o me it opens a lar g er philosophical discus sion about who is r espon sible f or which part s of the supply chain she said Gr eene r e commended that miners sink eff ort s int o measuring and r educing the scope 3 emis sions within their r each T he most power miners ha ve is in low carbon pr ocur ement of their own supply chain Tr ansport a tion could be one of those thing s T h ey pay dir ectly f or their ir on or e or copper t o g o on a ship t o China and that s something the y can r eally g e t r e liable numbers on What type of ship did it g o on Wher e did it port How f ar did it tr a v el How much weight did it carry she said T hose ar e mor e r eliable numbers than f or example what happens af t e r the mat erial lea ves China Gr eene coauthor ed the Global Logistics Emis sions Council GLEC F r amework f or logistics emis sions and is now working on a new methodology dubbed the Coalition on Mat erials Emis sions Tr anspar ency C OMET fr amework which will allow st ak eholders acr os s the mining supply chain t o ev aluat e and compar e the embodied carbon emis sions of diff er ent pr oduct s COMET w as launched by MIT s sust ainable supply chains ini tiative the Rock y Mount ain Institut e RMI the Color ado School of Mines and the Columbia Cent er f or Sust ainable In vestment at the W orld Economic F o rum in J anuary 20 20 It is aiming t o est ablish a universal st andar diz ed appr oach t o measuring sup ply chain emis sions in mining within 12 t o 18 months T he fr amework will sh y aw ay fr om a v er ag es f ound in other carbon r eporting appr oaches and mak e r eporting easier t o deal with and mor e ac c e s sible ac cor ding t o Gr eene Right now it is just so complicat ed Y ou need a PhD t o even think about it W e w ant t o t a k e it out of that z one she said T he push f or corpor at e scope 3 ac count ability is r elatively new RMI s dir ect or of mat erials initiatives Paolo N a t ali explained ha ving emer g ed in a somewhat unmethodical man ner due t o pr es sur e fr om two very diff er ent st ak eholder gr oups downstr eam companies looking t o clean up their pr ocur ement pr oc es ses and hea v y industry in vest ors conc erned with cli mat e risk Methodological rig our has only r e c ently st art ed t o become an is sue and all the implications primarily the pr oblem of enabling actual tr ac eability versus industry a v er ag es ar e a r elatively r e c ent thing T h at s wh y we r e g e t ting t o it now N a t ali said CIM Decarbonizing on the site level is within miners contr ol and theyve made that commitment but in the grand scheme of things it won t change the world When it comes to emissions the issue is in the smelting stage Julian Kettle W ood Mackenzie vicepresident of metals and mining