Essay by Eric Worrall
Just one problem: It wasn’t a secret.
World’s biggest miner BHP backtracks on climate action with key projects put on ice, leaked documents reveal
Christopher Knaus and Adam Morton Mon 25 May 2026 20.30 AEST
Exclusive: Cache of internal documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners show multinational has war-gamed ways to massively delay decarbonisation
The world’s biggest miner has halted or delayed projects to cut vast amounts of emissions and has quietly war-gamed options to push major climate investments in its Western Australian iron ore operations into the next two decades, internal documents show.
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The cache of leaked internal records, dubbed the BHP files, reveals that the company was aware delayed climate action in the Pilbara would pose a “reputational risk” and that “urgent decarbonisation in line with BHP’s public commitments” effectively underpinned its “licence to operate”.
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The documents reveal:
- BHP’s first planned investment in its inland Pilbara decarbonisation plan – a 50-megawatt solar farm and 20MW battery at its Jimblebar mine – was effectively shelved soon after being approved and funded by the board in mid-2023. The move prompted internal criticism from staff, some of whom questioned the decision to unilaterally close a board-approved project.
- A huge system of almost 500MW solar, wind and battery that could power a small city has been significantly delayed. Documents show it will “not progress in its current form” and has been given no capital funding until 2031 at the earliest, despite an initial plan for it to deliver its first power from December 2027.
- BHP quietly dumped an iron ore processing plant that could have prevented 1.7m tonnes of emissions a year, the equivalent of taking more than 350,000 cars off the road. This was despite describing it as “well-aligned” with its climate transition action plan, which shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of, and its stated decarbonisation targets.
- The company initially planned to replace its fleet of diesel trucks – one of the biggest sources of BHP’s emissions – with electric ones beginning in 2027-28 but documents show it has continued to acquire polluting diesel haulage trucks for long-term use, including a purchase of more than $500m for new diesel trucks at Jimblebar. Public documents also suggest it is planning to use diesel trucks at a proposed new mine at Ministers North.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/25/bhp-files-leak-mining-company-climate-action
The Guardian is treating this like they just scooped Watergate, but all the leaked documents do is provide some context for a change in corporate direction which was already public knowledge.
BHP openly rejected Net Zero as uneconomical last year, and have suggested they will pull out of Australia if Australia doesn’t reign in pressure on big companies to reduce CO2 emissions. So it is no surprise BHP are planning to cancel nonsensical virtue signalling Net Zero related projects.
