Snow covered mountain peak rising into dark cloud

Climate change

Strategy

How emissions are accounted for, how a target would be set and approved, and against what the resulting information is structured.

The strategic positionEmissions accountingHow a target is setThe disclosure references

The strategic position

The commodities we hold are used in electrification and in the infrastructure that the energy transition requires. That gives us an exposure to transition demand as well as to transition cost, and our strategy treats both. It does not treat the first as a substitute for the second: the demand-side argument does not reduce the emissions of an activity, and the framework does not allow it to be used as though it did.

Key facts

Demand-side argument

The demand-side argument for transition metals is not treated as an offset against our own emissions.

Scope 3 sequencing

A Scope 3 target follows the materiality assessment; it does not precede it.

Board approval

Every step of the target methodology is approved by the board.

Paris Agreement

Our position is set by reference to the Paris Agreement, not in compliance with it.

Emissions accounting

The greenhouse gas inventory is prepared under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. We record the organisational boundary, the consolidation approach and the emission factors applied. Value chain emissions are addressed under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard: where a category of Scope 3 emissions is assessed as material to us, the plan requires it to be mapped, measured and disclosed, and a Scope 3 target is set only after that mapping and materiality assessment has been completed and recorded. Supplier engagement on emissions data uses the CDP supply chain programme where suppliers participate in it.

How a target is set

Step
Scope
Basis, and approval
Baseline
Scope 1 and 2
Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard, with the organisational boundary and consolidation approach recorded. Approval: Board
Long-term objective
Scope 1 and 2
Set by reference to Switzerland's national climate goal and to recognised sectoral pathways. Approval: Board
Interim targets
Scope 1 and 2
Derived from the baseline and the long-term objective, with the reduction pathway and its assumptions recorded. Approval: Board
Value chain targets
Scope 3
Set only after the mapping and materiality assessment of Scope 3 categories. Approval: Board

The methodology, its inputs and its approval are recorded before any target derived from it is adopted. Where a target is submitted for external validation, the applicable version of the Science Based Targets initiative Corporate Net-Zero Standard is identified and the basis of submission recorded. No target has been set or submitted.

The disclosure references

Disclosure area
What the plan requires
Reporting reference
Governance of climate risks
Board oversight, defined management responsibility and a documented review cycle
IFRS S2; ESRS E1
Scope 1 and 2 emissions
An inventory prepared under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, with the boundary and methodology recorded
IFRS S2; ESRS E1
Scope 3 emissions
Mapping and measurement of the categories assessed as material to us
IFRS S2; ESRS E1
Targets and transition planning
Targets set, approved and reviewed under the documented methodology
IFRS S2; ESRS E1
Risk management
Climate risk identified, assessed and recorded in the risk register and the enterprise risk framework
IFRS S2; ESRS E1
Just transition and affected communities
Assessment of social effects, engagement and grievance handling
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; ILO instruments
Energy
Assessment of renewable supply options as part of procurement decisions
ESRS E1

IFRS S2 and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards are structuring references for our climate information; we do not report under either.

The Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement is a treaty between states. Our long-term objective is set by reference to it and to Switzerland's national climate goal, and we do not describe ourselves as complying with it, because compliance is not something a company can do with an instrument addressed to governments.