Andrew Forrest expects his push to decarbonise Fortescue’s iron ore mines to rub off on the agriculture industry
Andrew Forrest expects his fervent push to decarbonise Fortescue’s iron ore mines to rub off on the agriculture industry, of which he is one of the country’s most influential players.
The nation’s third largest iron ore miner has been on the warpath to achieve real-zero – producing no emissions without the use of offsets or other tricks – by 2030 at the behest of its founder and chairman, Mr Forrest.
Speaking at the company’s Christmas Creek mine on Friday, where Fortescue showcased its progress on hydrogen and battery electric vehicles, Mr Forrest said the miner’s progress marked a turning point for heavy industry.
“This technology you see behind you will go into the farming industry, go into small industry, help all industries produce a product which is less expensive and does no harm,” he said.
“That technology is leaping straight away into other commercial applications.”
Fortescue Metals chief executive Dino Otranto said advancements made by Fortescue were already rolling out into other industries.
“In fact our technology partner Liebherr has a large component of its own equipment, with some of our technology now going into those applications,” he said.
“That is agricultural applications as well.”
Liebherr last year unveiled its off-road hydrogen engine prototypes, and in June this year showed off a hydrogen-powered large-wheel loader in Austria.
The company in February introduced a nine-litre, four-cylinder hydrogen engine prototype for agricultural and forestry vehicles, which could be retrofitted into an existing diesel vehicle.
Among major agriculture players likely expected to lead the transition will be Mr Forrest himself, whose Harvest Road empire spans farmland, pastoral estates, aquaculture, and processing plants.
When questioned on Harvest Road’s efforts on decarbonisation, Mr Forrest said his company, like other farmers, had a fine margin of survival.
“Farmers across Australia are in it to send the kids to school, to pay off the house, but also because that's their lifestyle, that's what they love, that's what my family has loved for generations now,” he said.
“While the government has a dirty, great subsidy sitting on the top of diesel fuel and zero subsidy sitting on the top of green energy, then of course you are forced to use diesel fuel.
“You are forced to kill the kids with your own pollution.
“Our discussion with government is, ‘Hey, a cocky is not going to run a tractor or harvester across a field twice, only once. So why don't you subsidise that cocky the same amount using green, as you would for using diesel’.
“This is brain-dead simplicity.”
Harvest Road recorded a $38 million loss in the 2022-23 financial year.
