Time to walk away from the net zero fantasy

Australian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest, founder and executive chairman of Fortescue, says it is time for the world to walk away from the “proven fantasy” of net zero emissions by 2050 and to embrace “real zero” by 2040 instead.

Speaking to CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Wednesday, Forrest called on business executives and politicians reluctant to make the changes necessary to avert the worst of what the climate crisis has in store to make way for leaders willing to take on the decarbonization challenge.

Fortescue, which is the world’s fourth-largest iron ore miner, has outlined plans to stop burning fossil fuels across its Australian iron ore operations by the end of the decade — and urged other hard-to-abate companies to follow suit.

“All those leaders who say to me, say to the world, say to their kids, ‘oh you know we can’t do it, my company can’t do it, I can’t do it, you don’t understand we can’t actually do it,'” Forrest said in an exclusive interview.

“What they are really saying is that you can’t do it. And I’m saying to each of those chief executives and those political leaders who use the words ‘I can’t,’ OK, what about you get off the stage and let on a young girl or wiser leader who can. Someone with a bit of ticker because the technology is there,” he continued.

“We know the world can go real zero 2040 and I’m reaching out to the business people and politicians across our planet to say it is time now to walk away from this proven fantasy [of] net zero 2050 and adopt real zero 2040,” Forrest said. “We can, we must, let’s do it.”

Net zero refers to the goal of achieving a state of balance between the carbon emitted into the atmosphere and the carbon removed from it.

More than 140 countries, including major polluters such as the U.S., India and the European Union, have adopted plans to reach net zero.

To meet the critically important warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target ascribed in the landmark Paris Agreement, global carbon emissions should reach net zero by around the middle of the century, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit non-profit.

For high-income nations, such as the U.S., it means reaching net zero by 2050 or earlier, while for low-income countries, it can mean achieving net zero by the 2050s or 2060s.

“Real zero is the ability of this planet to use the technology it has right now. It’s evolving and it’s getting better very quickly, but to use the technology we have right now to stop burning all fossil fuels by 2040,” Forrest said.

“If we did that by 2030, we’ve got a 50:50 chance of avoiding the worst ravages of global warming — that’s not going to happen. Fortescue is going to make it happen. We’re a huge industrial company, massive polluter, we’ll go real zero. We’ll stop burning all fossil fuels easily this decade, not next, this decade,” he added.

“And we’re saying to the world, if you want to hold that planetary boundary to a future which is inheritable, tolerable for your kids then we must go real zero. We must stop burning fossil fuels by 2040,” Forrest said.

Scientists have repeatedly pushed for rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to stop global average temperatures rising.

These calls have continued through an alarming run of temperature records that have put the planet firmly on course to notch its hottest year in human history in 2024.

Extreme temperatures are fueled by the climate crisis, the chief driver of which is the burning of fossil fuels.