AngloGold Ashanti aims to be proactive and transparent in our work to identify and minimise the current and future climate risks to our operations and business and to chart a pathway to net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Coinciding with the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow and together with members of the ICMM, which represents about a third of the global mining and metals industry, we re-committed to a goal of net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 2050. This supports the Paris Agreement’s objectives to limit the increase in global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

In 2020, our newly established Climate Change Working Group initiated work to update our climate change response, and in late 2021 we published our first TCFD-aligned Climate Change Report which frames our refreshed Climate Change Strategy.

The Climate Change Strategy, approved by the board in November 2021, seeks to embed the management of physical risks, transition climate risks, and climate change-related opportunities into our strategic and operational planning processes.

Our climate work is further underpinned by a framework that aims to improve our climate maturity along four pillars, aligned to the TCFD themes, namely governance, strategy, risk management, and climate metrics and targets. The Climate Change Report summarises our climate actions to date, including the key initiatives taken since 2008, which contributed to the ~48% reduction in our portfolio’s absolute GHG emissions by the end of 2020. It also discusses the carbon pricing transition risk work completed for each of our operations, and provides a summary of the physical climate risks for each operational mine and major projectsal mine and major projects.

The year saw the development of baseline energy and carbon emissions models for the 2022 Level 1 life of mine plans. This required each site to map out and quantify the individual energy inputs needed to deliver on the business plans for each operational mine, up to 2030. It further enabled forecasting baseline carbon emissions and testing the potential effects of energy efficiency and energy switching initiatives for individual operations, and the Company as whole. Extension of the model to beyond 2030, reflecting Level 2 and Level 3 life of mine plans, permits longer-term emissions forecasting, and building a pathway to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

During 2021, Promethium Carbon undertook a comprehensive estimate of our Scope 3 GHG emissions on an operated asset basis. Approximately 92% of the estimated ~808kt of Scope 3 GHG emissions were attributed to just two of the 15 GHG Protocol Categories; Purchased Goods and Services and Fuel and Energy Related activities. Reducing Scope 3 GHG emissions, which comprises approximately ~37% of our total 2021 GHG emissions, requires a collective effort with value chain partners and this first comprehensive assessment provides a useful foundation for further action.

The year in review was our first full 12-month period without our former South African operations and saw our absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions drop to 1.38MT, a 41% reduction, compared to 2020 and ~69% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions compared to our baseline year in 2007. Comparatively, our 2021 direct and indirect energy consumption was only 14% lower than in 2020. The carbon intensity of our energy mix, a new metric we are tracking relative to a basket of peers and one which measures how clean our energy mix is, has been reduced to ~63 Kilograms of CO₂e emitted per GJ of energy, which, compared to 2020, is a 31% improvement. Find further detail on our climate performance in the Climate Change Report 20/21.

Prioritised SDG