A former chief economist at mining giant BHP has come out with a hot take that will surprise approximately no one: stronger government climate policies are needed to make big resource companies actually do something about decarbonisation. Dr Huw McKay, who left BHP in 2024 and is now a visiting fellow at Australian National University, told the Guardian that voluntary corporate commitments are about as stable as a house of cards in a hurricane. He agrees with economist Ross Garnaut that what's really needed is a carbon price that would 'move the needle' on those stubborn, hard-to-abate emissions. 'Inserting a carbon-price obligation into the investment process at major resources companies would lead to swifter action,' he said, presumably without laughing at the irony of a former BHP economist saying this.

This comes after internal documents leaked to Guardian Australia and the ABC revealed that BHP had delayed massive renewables projects in the Pilbara, scrapped a project that would have actually cut global emissions, and war-gamed pushing electrification of its diesel truck and train fleets into the next two decades. Because nothing says 'existential risk' like kicking the can down the road. BHP has already hit its 2030 target of cutting emissions 30% below 2020 levels - mostly through power purchase agreements in Chile and suspending its struggling WA nickel operations - but its net-zero goal requires actually transitioning away from diesel and gas. The company's first Pilbara solar farm and battery were shelved after board approval, and it kept buying 62 polluting diesel trucks despite pledges to electrify by 2027-2028.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, meanwhile, defended the safeguard mechanism, which mandates emissions cuts for 200 big polluters including BHP sites. He said it's not voluntary and that total onsite emissions are down 2.3% this year. 'We won't be imposing a carbon tax,' he added, in case anyone was holding their breath. BHP, for its part, is trialling two battery-electric trucks in the Pilbara - a move critics say is just re-announcing old news. A BHP spokesperson argued that technology isn't ready for 240-ton battery trucks at scale, so they're partnering with equipment producers. Because waiting for technology to magically appear is definitely a strategy.