Global leaders at Climate Week NYC hear Fortescue's roadmap for a zero-emissions future

Dr Andrew Forrest AO, Fortescue’s Executive Chairman and Founder, has launched the third iteration of the Company’s Climate Transition Plan at the High-Level Opening of the Global Renewables Summit in New York, headlined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

The High-Level Session on Renewable Energy Abundance took place on the second day of Climate Week NYC – the world’s premier platform for climate action. It also featured COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen. 

The heads of state, government leaders, business executives and financiers gathered to discuss ways to accelerate the deployment of zero-emissions technologies and unlock the full potential of the renewable energy transition.

The event was organised by global climate leadership organisation Climate Group and Fortescue, with support from the Global Renewables Alliance.

Dr Forrest hailed Fortescue’s Climate Transition Plan as another tangible demonstration of decarbonisation in action and urged participants in the roundtable to match the Company’s ambition. 

The plan refines Fortescue’s path to its Real Zero Target and demonstrates the progress Fortescue has made since the launch of Real Zero in 2022.

“Our Climate Transition Plan is more than a strategy – it’s a roadmap for how industry can decarbonise at scale,” Dr Forrest said.

“We’ve demonstrated that green energy isn’t just achievable but is profitable, reliable, and transformative. Now, it’s time for all of us to match that ambition and accelerate the global energy transition.”

For the second year in a row, Fortescue’s Climate Transition Plan has been reviewed by Professor Benjamin Caldecott, Director of the University of Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and a world expert in transition planning.

In a foreword, Professor Caldecott assesses that the plan “demonstrates how a company can manage risk, seize opportunity and contribute tangibly to the global goal of limiting warming by treating its transition plan as core business strategy. It aligns capital allocation with ambitious targets, embeds resilience through scenario analysis, and focuses engagement on the forums that matter most, from COP 30 in Belém to the International Maritime Organization.” 

As the world sets its sights on 2035 climate goals, Fortescue is calling on business to match nations in ambition and treat transition plans like national commitments – reviewed, refined, and transparently tracked. 

The development of Fortescue’s Climate Transition Plan has been aligned with high-ambition global frameworks, including the UN Race to Zero Coalition, the Transition Plan Taskforce framework, and disclosure standards set by the International Financial Reporting Standards and the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standard (AASB S2). 

It has also helped shape industry-wide approaches through the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders and the Science Based Targets initiative.

In this third iteration, Fortescue has incorporated feedback from leading scientific reviewers at the University of Technology Sydney, alongside the external review led by Professor Caldecott of the University of Oxford. The process of review and refinement is underpinned by deep scientific and policy expertise, including by Fortescue’s Chief Climate Scientist, Dr Shanta Barley. 

Fortescue CEO Metals and Operations, Dino Otranto, said: “A target without a plan is just rhetoric. As nations set their 2035 climate goals, business must do the same – with science-based targets backed by industrial delivery. Transition plans must be transparent, accountable and regularly reviewed so ambition becomes action.

“Ahead of the Secretary-General’s Leaders Summit on Climate, the moment demands both NDCs and transition plans that match the science and unlock the economic opportunities of a decarbonising world.” 

Fortescue’s Climate Transition Plan is available here.