WA running out of time to lead green steel transition: Forrest
Jesinta Burton
Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has warned that Western Australia is running out of time to establish itself as the state of choice to lead the transition to green steel, insisting the world’s biggest steel maker is “moving on”.
Speaking at The Australian Financial Review Mining Summit in Perth on Wednesday, the Fortescue Metals Group chairman said China would “stay the course” and pursue plans to decarbonise the industry.
Forrest told the summit the state’s iron ore industry would need to accelerate the move to producing green iron using renewable energy if it wished to continue exporting the nation’s most lucrative commodity.
“[China] don’t believe in drill baby, drill,” he told the summit.
“They are determined, as a people, not to destroy the planet … they’re looking straight to the future, which may or may not include Western Australia.
“Rio Tinto, BHP, they talk a big game, but everyone is going down.
“The choice is getting made now, and we don’t have any time to lose to have an iron ore industry which is going to deliver what the customer wants, which is green metal … or they will get it somewhere else and design it against another nation.”
WA is tipped to export almost $117 billion worth of iron ore this year.
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