Real Zero at Fortescue
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Fortescue has been in the news a lot recently. Just a few weeks ago, at a United Nations roundtable, Fortescue Executive Chairman Dr Andrew Forrest AO unveiled a plan to move mining operations from “net zero” to “real zero.”
“The detailed timeline shows how Fortescue will eliminate Scope 1 and 2 emissions without voluntary carbon offsets and without carbon capture and storage — what is now known as ‘real zero.'”
“Fortescue’s climate transition plan embodies the spirit of openness and transparency that is essential for meaningful progress,” Dr Benjamin Caldecott, the Director of the University of Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and a world expert in transition planning, writes in the foreword. “The plan is marked by high ambition and well-defined actions, underpinned by accountability mechanisms to ensure systematic delivery across the organisation.”
Leading international scientists have been advocating for the world to move from net-zero targets to real-zero ones. In Australia, we have seen successive conservative governments use creative accounting to be able to claim progress towards “net zero” without any real reduction in carbon emissions.
Fortescue details how it will eliminate fossil fuels from its Australian operations, including heavy mining equipment and rail. It reiterates its call to governments to repurpose fossil fuel subsidies “to level the playing field for first movers in decarbonisation and to incentivise others in the industry to transition more rapidly.”
In a call to arms, Dr Forrest said: “Net Zero 2050 is a con. The world needs Real Zero now. Fortescue can tell you when we’ll eliminate fossil fuels and show you exactly how. Every industrialist should match us. Our climate transition plan is a gold-standard example of the level of corporate ambition required to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. Where other companies develop climate plans merely to meet regulatory requirements, Fortescue’s plan is solely focused on how we will eliminate fossil fuels by 2030 from our operations without voluntary carbon offsets.
“Companies that set emissions reductions targets must demonstrate how they will deliver them. Only when we hold ourselves accountable for our commitments do we earn our seat at the table. There is only one question that companies should be asking themselves — when will they stop burning fossil fuels?”
A concrete example of how Fortescue is moving forward is the contract signed with Liebherr to provide a total of 475 zero-emission machines — approximately 360 autonomous battery-electric trucks, 55 electric excavators, and 60 battery-powered dozers. Two thirds of Fortescue’s current mining fleet will become zero emissions, replacing current diesel models. This will create the world’s largest zero-emission mining fleets and is a step towards a mining industry no longer reliant on fossil fuels. “Liebherr and Fortescue are committed to having a comprehensive and large scale zero emission mining ecosystem operational by 2030.”
Fortescue Zero has developed a zero-emission battery power system. Development of this system grew from Fortescue’s acquisition of Williams Advanced Engineering in 2022. CleanTechnica covered that here. Fortescue has stated that “the large scale zero emission mining ecosystem developed by Liebherr and Fortescue will be available to the rest of the mining industry in the near future.”
“We are proud to have facilitated the single largest equipment deal in the entire 75-year history of the Liebherr Group. Especially as the expansion of our collaboration with Fortescue is an important step forward in our shared goal to decarbonise mining activities worldwide,” says Dr Jörg Lukowski, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Liebherr-Mining Equipment SAS.
“Partnerships with companies and people like Liebherr and Willi Liebherr — where ambition is backed by action — are critical,” Dr Forrest says. “This is an important next step in our 2030 Real Zero target — to eliminate emissions from our Australian iron ore operations by the end of the decade. The world needs Real Zero now — it simply cannot afford to wait. The green solutions we need are here today, and Fortescue Zero is supplying them and rolling them out across our massive mining operations. Fortescue Zero developed this battery technology and jointly developed the Automated Haulage Solution, leading the way to provide green innovative solutions to eliminate emissions from heavy industry. We invite all companies in the mining, heavy industry and haulage sectors to join us. The solutions are there, and the missing ingredient is leadership. The time of others persuading you that greenwashing is a better return to shareholders and your community is over. Fortescue invites you to join us. We can together be the trailblazers who forge the world’s move away from fossil fuels.”
Fortescue’s robotic stationary fast charger can provide up to 6 MW of power and charge the battery-electric T 264 haulage truck in 30 minutes. You can check out the video of this bad boy here. I’d love to drive this down the Bruce Highway and scare the Ford Rangers and Toyota Landcruisers. What I wrote about 2 years ago is coming to fruition. The big boys have their toys.
The T 264 mining trucks have already begun to arrive in Western Australia. Initially supplied to run on fossil fuels, they will be converted to battery electric by 2030. However, most of the fleet will be supplied in battery-electric configuration from first arrival.
“Four autonomous trucks are currently in validation at Fortescue’s testing site, with the first deployment of operational autonomous trucks expected in Q1 2025. All T 264 trucks are arriving autonomy-ready and will be progressively deployed to autonomous operations across Fortescue’s sites. Validation of the full autonomous battery-electric solution is expected to be complete in early 2026.”
Next step — battery dozers. Liebherr and Fortescue now plan to jointly develop a zero-emission dozer. Liebherr’s flagship mining dozer, still in development, the PR 776, will be fitted with Fortescue’s battery power system. Fortescue has ordered 60 units to further move towards real zero.
Fortescue already has three R 9400 E electric excavators in operation. They have ordered 55 more in a mix of backhoe and face shovel configurations. Here’s a great video of that machine in action.
Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is putting his money where his mouth is and making real steps toward a better future for the mining industry and the earth. He seems to have pivoted from green hydrogen towards battery electric, and recovered from his Sun Cable venture. It looks like Australia is cementing its position as the world leader in mining technology. The future looks bright, it looks electric, and the air smells cleaner in the Pilbara.
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