Renewables, Sustainability Strategies and Operational Energy Choices in De Beers

De Beers Group is the world’s leading diamond company, with expertise in diamond exploration, mining, grading, marketing and retail. Together with their joint venture partners, they employ more than 20,000 people across the global diamond pipeline, with many of these people located in the source countries of Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa.

The company has been very forward thinking and ambitious with environmental and emissions targets. In advance of her presentations at the Energy and Mines Africa Virtual Summit, Head of Carbon Neutrality Kirsten Hund provides details on these bold strategic initiatives, how these corporate goals translate to operational changes, and the implications for a shifting energy mix.

Kirsten Hund: As part of our Building Forever 2030 Goals, our blueprint for creating a positive and sustainable impact that will endure well beyond the discovery of our last diamond, De Beers Group has committed to be carbon neutral across all our operations under the Protecting the Natural World pillar focusing on three key areas – climate change, water, and biodiversity.

We will address our own Scope 1 and 2 Emissions through our ‘Reduce, Replace, Remove’ Strategy. Firstly, we are committed to Reduce Energy Intensity across our business by capturing efficiencies through breakthrough technology and digitalisation by 2030. This programme will change the way we mine, making it more effective, efficient and sustainable.

Secondly, the focus of much of my work is around Replace, which consists of two pillars – replacing fossil fuels and replacing fossil electricity with renewable alternatives. By 2030 we will replace most of our fossil fuels with green alternatives. For example, we have partnered with Anglo American to develop Hydrogen Fuel cell trucks. The first truck will be launched at our Platinum operation in South Africa this year. The second pillar, which is replacing fossil electricity with renewable alternatives, is a crucial part of our strategy as most of the power we get from the grid in Southern Africa is coal-based, and responsible for about half of our emissions. We are very lucky that in these countries the potential for renewable energy is plenty. We are therefore working, in close collaboration with Anglo American and our Joint Venture Partners in Namibia and Botswana, on developing a solar and wind infrastructure to harness this potential. With Anglo American, we plan to partner with the government and communities in South Africa in developing a regional renewable energy ecosystem. The ecosystem would not only help us reduce our Scope 2 emissions but would also provide the foundation for green hydrogen production, facilitating the roll-out of our hydrogen powered haul trucks across South Africa. We also believe that the provision of new sources of clean, reliable and affordable energy could provide a stimulus for wider socioeconomic benefits for businesses and communities across Southern Africa.

As an option of last resort, our last strategic thrust is about Removing remaining carbon emissions from the atmosphere. By 2030 we will remove all remaining, hard to abate carbon emissions through innovative nature-based and technical solutions, removing carbon from the atmosphere through, for example, reforestation and regenerative agriculture in the landscapes in which we operate.

Kirsten Hund: Creating strong alignment between different stakeholders on a green, reliable and just transition to renewable energy is crucial. Within our area of work, diverse country and company agendas, priorities and regulatory environments are creating a highly complex environment. The goals of different stakeholders vary significantly and do not consistently align to a ‘Carbon Neutrality by 2030’ outcome. The world is running out of time, so we do need to hurry up to make this transition happen and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees. For this, we need an enabling environment that allows us to get there, while also making sure that we bring everybody along. This is not just a renewable energy transition; it also requires a transition of jobs and skills, and very new and different partnerships. We do need all hands on deck for this.

Kirsten Hund: As we progress on our carbon neutral journey, reporting becomes more important. We do see an increasing interest from a wide range of stakeholders in our carbon footprint, and the steps we are making to reduce it. We are currently in the process of testing different tools to effectively, and easily, measure and monitor our carbon footprint for Scope 1, 2 and 3. At the same time, we also need to find more effective ways to tell our story, that go beyond just the numbers. The Climate debate is too often reduced to a discussion about emissions figures. Yes, it is crucial to bring those emissions down to zero. But, notably in Africa, this can’t be achieved overnight. Reducing our Scope 2 emissions, for example, is not a matter of switching energy providers. At our operations, we need to develop a renewable energy infrastructure from scratch, and that takes time. It also offers massive opportunities for real sustainable development in those countries, for the creation of jobs, skills and new business opportunities in the green economy space. And that is a story we are not telling when we reduce a sustainability debate to a review of carbon footprint data.