The Transition Pathway Initiative Centre (TPI Centre) has announced that coal mining is the latest sector to be included in its carbon performance assessments.

The TPI Centre’s Carbon Performance (CP) Assessment helps investors assess a company’s preparedness for a low-carbon economy. As such, this decision will see the TPI Centre expand its coverage to a total of 12 high-emitting sectors, including electricity utilities, oil and gas, food, as well as high-carbon industrial and transport sectors.

By including coal mining, the TPI aims to provide investors with a better understanding of the climate-related risks associated with the sector.

In a statement, the TPI Centre said: “This addition underscores our commitment to broadening the scope of assessments across industries critical to climate action.”

Pollution

By including coal mining, the TPI aims to provide investors with a better understanding of the climate-related risks associated with the sector

Elsewhere, further attempts to decarbonise coal plants have seen investors and governments calling for investment into decarbonising coal plants to be labelled as “transition finance”, in order to accelerate the clean transition.

In addition to this, strides to mitigate the dangers posed to communities and the environment by the waste created by coal mining, known as tailings, have been bolstered by the creation of an independent organisation dedicated to improving the safety of mine tailings facilities worldwide.

The Global Tailings Management Institute (GTMI), which was founded by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), comes at a time of increasing pressure to tackle the negative impacts of coal mining.

The need for industry oversight was highlighted after the 2019 Brumadinho dam collapse in Brazil which killed 272 people, served as a stark wake-up call for the entire industry.

Extended deadline

Meanwhile, a second update announced today by the TPI Centre about updates to its CP assessment will see the group extend a key timeframe by which they determine companies’ alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Up until now, the carbon-reduction scores were provided against three timeframes: short-term 2027, medium-term 2035 and long-term 2050.

This recent update will see the short-term date extended to 2028, while both the medium and long-term dates will remain the same. Last year, the TPI extended the short-term date to 2027 from 2025 last February.

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