About
Decarbonisation Strategy
Gold Fields is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in alignment with the Paris Agreement. Our target-driven Decarbonisation Strategy is structured around a framework that prioritises energy resilience and cost-effective reduction in emissions while maintaining operational efficiency and business sustainability. Applying a commercial lens has been critical since Gold Fields formally launched its Decarbonisation Strategy in 2016. We have a portfolio-based view of our decarbonisation efforts, critically assessing where the greatest opportunities lie to enhance operational flexibility and energy security and meet our carbon reduction priorities.
We have systematically integrated renewable energy solutions, process efficiencies and technology-driven abatement strategies to reduce our carbon footprint while maintaining production growth. By 2024, we had achieved a 4% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions against our 2016 baseline, while production increased by 5% over the same period. The reductions are attributed to various renewable energy investments at five of our nine operations, the use of hydroelectricity at Cerro Corona, as well as a range of energy efficiency projects at all our operations. In 2023, we also added a target to reduce our net Scope 3 emissions by 10% against a 2022 baseline, and we continue to engage with our key suppliers as we work towards this target.
Looking ahead, our Decarbonisation Strategy will focus on four key pillars to achieve our 2030 targets:
- Renewable energy expansion: Gold Fields will continue integrating renewable energy sources across its operations. We are implementing solar, wind and hybrid energy solutions based on operation-specific technical and financial evaluations, ensuring grid stability and optimised returns
- Electrification of material movement and operations: As part of the Group’s emissions reduction efforts, we will focus on transitioning from diesel-powered equipment to electrified alternatives
- Energy efficiency and process optimisation: We continue implementing process efficiency improvements to reduce overall energy intensity
- Decarbonisation technologies: Gold Fields undertook a structured review of emerging decarbonisation technologies to assess their maturity, scalability and emissions reduction potential per operation
The infographic below indicates how Gold Fields plans to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by a net 30%, from 1,693kt CO2e in 2016 (our baseline year) to 1,185kt CO2e by 2030. Assuming further gold production growth by 2030, the emissions reduction required may well be an absolute 50% over that period.
Approximately 50% of targeted emissions reductions by 2030 are expected to come from renewable energy, with the remainder achieved through electrification, efficiency enhancements and transitionary abatement measures. Two renewable projects, included below, will play a particularly important role in helping us reach our 2030 Group decarbonisation goals, while also providing significant cost and energy supply security.
At St Ives, we are constructing our largest renewable energy project to date, with an investment of A$295m (US$195m), comprising a 42MW wind farm and a 35MW solar plant. The renewable system is expected to provide 73% of St Ives’ electricity and will reduce the mine’s Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by about 50% by 2030.
During 2024, the 50MW Khanyisa solar plant at South Deep, commissioned in 2023 for R715m (US$46m), provided 17% of South Deep’s electricity, as well as R350m (US$19m) in cost savings since commissioning when compared to the tariffs charged by the state utility and saved 178kt CO2e in Scope 1 and 2 emissions. As we consider further investments in renewables at South Deep – via wind turbines or an expansion of our solar plant – these benefits will be even more pronounced over the 70-year LOM.
Additional renewables deployment at other mines and the ongoing focus on energy efficiency will account for the bulk of the emission reductions achieved by 2030. The source of the remaining contributions will be determined through the ongoing mid-point review, expected to be a combination of further renewables, energy efficiency and electrified (instead of fossil fuel powered) materials movement technologies.
2030 decarbonisation trajectory (kt CO2e)