JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major BHP Billiton has invested in the development of low-emissions technologies and supporting market mechanisms that provide financial incentives for emissions reductions and sustainable development to support moves to limit global temperature increases to 2 °C.

“We believe that a range of measures are needed to address climate change. First and foremost, we are reducing our own emissions and improving our energy efficiency, with a target of keeping greenhouse-gas emissions below our 2006 baseline,” BHP Billiton chief commercial officer Dean Dalla Valle said in a statement.

The company said that in a 2 °C scenario, it expected the demand for most of its products to continue to rise in absolute terms.

“As the energy mix changes, copper, gas and uranium could see stronger demand than otherwise would have been the case. Measures to reduce emissions in steel manufacturing could also increase prices for the company’s higher-quality iron-ore.

“Together, these factors would help offset weaker demand, lower prices or higher costs in other areas of our portfolio such as energy coal,” Dalla Valle added.

While the company expected its average rate-of-return on investment in its growth projects to fall slightly, it said it would remain at 20% and that it would create value by bringing production into growing markets.

“This helps ensure the value of BHP Billiton’s portfolio remain robust if emissions decline to levels consistent with a 2 °C world after 2030, as well as in a stress test that models the implications of more rapid change,” Dalla Valle highlighted.

In both cases, group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation would continue to grow over the next 15 years and BHP Billiton’s commodity diversification, competitive production, high-quality resource base and the rapid payback periods of growth projects would reduce the risk of stranded assets.

The mining group had also joined a growing number of businesses in disclosing the company’s assumptions on global carbon price ranges, which it applied to its investments and portfolio evaluation to inform decision-making.