BHP agrees to rethink its links to Minerals Council of Australia
The giant Anglo-Australian miner BHP has agreed to reconsider its membership of the Minerals Council of Australia, as well as other industry groups, and to clarify how BHP’s position on climate and energy policy differs from those bodies.
The move comes as BHP faces a shareholder resolution urging the company to terminate membership of bodies that demonstrate a pattern of advocacy on policy issues at odds with the company’s positions since 2012.
The resolution was moved by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility on behalf of more than 120 shareholders of BHP.
“The last decade or longer of Australian climate and energy policy has been characterised by short-lived policy subject to relentless scrutiny and adversarial campaigning by industry bodies, or no policy at all,” the ACCR said on behalf of about the shareholders in a supporting statement.
The statement called for BHP to review membership of industry bodies, and singled out the Minerals Council of Australia, noting its activities have “diminished the federal government’s ability to resolve a national policy issue of material relevance to our company and the stability of its operations”.
“The MCA’s activities undermine the possibility of achieving what our company has stated an ‘effective policy framework’ should include: a complementary set of measures including a price on carbon, support for low-emissions technologies, energy efficiency and measures to build resilience,” the statement said.
“Over time, these activities have the potential to undermine shareholder value, given our company’s exposure to climate-related risk and energy instability.”
In 2016 AGL, Australia’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, left the MCA, citing material differences in their positions on climate change and energy.
“AGL’s positions on climate change and renewable energy differed from those held by the Minerals Council of Australia and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, and AGL has elected not to renew its membership of these organisations,” the company said.
In recent months BHP has expressed public displeasure at some of the MCA’s lobbying activities.
The CSIRO has come under fire for its membership of the MCA.
In a statement uploaded to the BHP website on Monday, the miner said it would review its membership of industry bodies, specifically mentioning the Minerals Council of Australia. It also committed to publishing statements on how its positions differ from industry groups on climate change.
“In the past, we have always sought to make our position on significant public issues clear,” BHP said. “However, we will further our efforts to ensure that material differences with industry associations on key issues are clearly understood.
“To that end, we will make public, by 31 December 2017, a list of the material differences between the positions we hold on climate and energy policy, and the advocacy positions on climate and energy policy taken by industry associations to which we belong.”