PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major BHP has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Toyota Australia to enhance safety and decarbonisation measures within BHP's Australian operations.

A primary objective of the collaboration is to work together across safety, engineering and product development teams focused on safety in light vehicles design and future state technologies and challenges.

Furthermore, the collaboration is designed to support BHP with its objective to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 30% by 2030. By leveraging the combined expertise of Toyota and BHP, both companies are committed to BHP achieving this important target.

Through the MoU, BHP will gain access to the knowledge and resources of Toyota's expert engineering teams across Australia and globally with the aim of BHP realising its broader decarbonisation goals.

The two companies will also collaborate on a decarbonisation journey map that will look at a range of options and alternative technologies to develop a comprehensive strategy that aims to achieve agreed targets.

“At the heart of our efforts to decarbonise our operations is an ambition to electrify our fleet of 5 000 light vehicles in Australia. Collaborating with leading suppliers like Toyota shows our clear commitment to developing shared solutions for a safer and more sustainable future,” BHP president Australia Geraldine Slattery said.

BHP group procurement officer James Agar said that combining BHP’s engineering expertise and resources with Toyota was a terrific example of the approach the miner was taking with major suppliers to develop new technologies that will improve its safety and sustainability.

“It’s an exciting project and there’s plenty of work to do, but we’re up for the challenge and we look forward to seeing what we can do together,” he added.

Once completed, the capabilities developed through the partnership are expected to provide a blue-print for other organisations seeking to safely electrify their light-vehicle fleets and contribute to decarbonisation.