Climate Change Climate Change and our Operations Climate change driven by carbon emissions is an issue of global concern that will affect society, the environment, and economic development over the coming decades. We recognize that climate change is a potential threat to our business and many of our COIs, and we are committed to action to ensure an orderly transition to a prosperous low-carbon world. In 2019 and early 2020, we conducted a study to evaluate the potential physical risks of climate change on our operations due to extreme weather events, impacts on water availability, and changes in rainfall and temperature patterns. The study considered a range of scenarios for each of our current operations, projects, and suspended operations, in line with TCFD scenario analysis recommendations. Scenarios considered in the analysis and evaluation of the latest global climate models included a 2 degree (IPCC RCP 2.6) scenario and a worst case 6 degree scenario (IPCC RCP 8.5). The evaluation concluded that none of our current assets are expected to experience climate changes effects over their current expected operating life that would be outside the existing design assumptions for storm events, temperature, and water availability. Some of our operations, however, are expected to see changes in rainfall and extreme weather events over longer periods, which needs to be considered in our mine closure and post-closure planning. We will be implementing the study recommendations by applying climate sensitivity analysis and using the best climate models available at the appropriate closure planning stage for each of our operations. We also plan to update our company-wide risk evaluation as new data and models become available and conduct a transition risk analysis according to TCFD recommendations. We know that the effects of climate change will potentially be greater on communities around our operations whose infrastructure is often not as robust as our mines. That is why we continue to invest in initiatives from water and energy supply systems to revegetation and surface water management structures to make our host communities more resilient to climate change.
92 // 2019 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
We continue to invest in initiatives from water and energy supply systems to revegetation and surface water management structures to make our host communities more resilient to climate change.
