Mining magnate Andrew Forrest, Australia’s second-richest man, has called on heavy industrialists such as himself to pivot away from damaging practices that have devastated the planet.
Speaking at Cop28, Mr Forrest challenged the five largest oil and gas companies to phase out fossil fuels in an international campaign urging the industry to act now, as climate negotiations in Dubai entered the final hours.
“The climate has come hard at people in the last six months,” Mr Forrest told The National.
“I don't know what it is going to look like in the future, but it's not going to be pretty.”
Mr Forrest, known as Twiggy, is worth about $26.3 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and built his wealth founding the Fortescue Metals Group mining iron oil for the hugely lucrative Asian markets.
Iron ore exports from Australia to China in 2022 were worth around $76 billion. China is, by far, Australia’s biggest export market for iron ore, the primary source of metal for the world’s construction projects.
“The devastation this [burning of fossil fuels] is causing in the developing world, throughout the tropical world and subtropical world is just so serious that the argument [to phase out fossil fuels] has become completely clear.
“We can no longer say the world doesn't have choices. All the energy the world could ever consume in any possible future paradigm is available – from renewable energy, from harmless green electricity and green hydrogen.”
Mining operations have considerable environmental impact, causing air pollution from diesel generators and water pollution due to acids and heavy metals that drain from mines.
Greener shipping
Since making his fortune, Mr Forrest, has had a mea culpa, becoming an evangelist for renewable energies and a switch away from destructive fossil fuels.
He hopes to transition his own mining operations away from fossil fuels by 2030 and is part of plans to send solar-power generated in Darwin to Singapore via a 4,200km undersea cable.
There are also plans to reduce carbon emissions from the shipping industry, currently responsible for about 3 per cent of the world’s total greenhouse gases.
Mr Forrest has spent millions converting a heavy oil tanker to run on green ammonia.
The Green Pioneer moored in Dubai during Cop28, ahead of its first ammonia-fuelled voyage in February.
“Mining is like energy, it must pivot away from doing [environmental] harm to provide all the world with what it needs, without damaging it,” said Mr Forrest.
“The oil and gas sector will have you believe there is either economic growth [with oil and gas] or nothing. That is just completely wrong.”
Backed by science
Mr Forrest, who is also a marine scientist, recently published an open letter to world leaders stating clear scientific evidence that rising heat and humidity posed a serious threat to humanity, particularly in the tropics.
The document called for the removal of barriers to green industry and fossil fuel subsidies by 2030, and a matching of incentives and disincentives to risk with carbon pricing.
It also called for economic stimulants to encourage green growth and transformation. The letter received support from 60 scientists.
Mr Forrest’s outspoken views, he admits, are an example to other leaders of heavy industry to act now and commit to stop burning fossil fuels, with about three billion people now facing the impact of a changing climate.
“I offer a public invitation to chairmen of the five largest oil and gas companies to join me in a discussion to debate why the phase out of fossil fuels is mandatory,” he said.
“It is fair to expect a constant improvement in our economies, but that must not be done at the expense of obliterating the environment.
“Industrialists of the world must transition towards a zero-harm way of providing energy, manufactured goods and commodities. It is industrialists like me who must change.”
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Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Jude Law
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Director: Shahad Ameen
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
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2pm: Serve U – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Violent Justice, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
2.30pm: Al Shafar Investment – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,400m; Winner: Desert Wisdom, Bernardo Pinheiro, Ahmed Al Shemaili
3pm: Commercial Bank of Dubai – Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Fawaareq, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
3.30pm: Shadwell – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
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4.30pm: Al Redha Insurance Brokers – Handicap (TB) Dh78,000 (D) 1,800m; Winner: Capla Crusader, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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10.
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South Korea
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