Governments have a central role to play in responding to climate change. Engaging constructively with governments on climate policy is an important way we can help the world decarbonise and build resilience to the impacts of climate change. 

We believe governments around the world should adopt and progress policies aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in the global average temperature by CY2100 to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. 

We commit to conducting our climate policy advocacy consistent with these goals in our direct and indirect advocacy. 

Our Climate Policy Principles show how we intend this commitment to be translated into action. They represent our views on how governments can best pursue the goals of the Paris Agreement, with a focus on policymaking principles and policy outcomes. We use our Climate Policy Principles to inform and guide our own advocacy (our ‘direct advocacy’) and to seek to influence the advocacy of the industry associations of which we are a member (our ‘indirect advocacy’). 

We first released our Climate Policy Principles (then referred to as our Global Climate Policy Standards) in August 2020. Reflecting changes to our strategy and portfolio, and the evolving nature of climate policy debates, we published an updated version of our Climate Policy Principles in May 2023. We keep our Climate Policy Principles under review and make updates where necessary. 

Indirect advocacy 

Information on the climate policy advocacy of our industry association memberships and alignment with our Climate Policy Principles is available here.  

Our direct advocacy 

BHP engages directly with governments on issues relating to climate change and the transition to net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We focus our advocacy efforts on areas where we have the greatest ability to influence positive change.  

In addition to our Climate Policy Principles, we typically consider three factors in determining which climate policy issues to engage on and how to do so:   

• The relevance of the issue, taking into account our previous advocacy efforts, the extent of the connection between the issue and our business or industry, and the views of our stakeholders.  
• The materiality of the issue, in terms of how it could contribute to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and its potential implications for our strategy or operations.  
• Our ability to influence policy discussions on the issue that will largely be driven by the degree of relevance of the issue to us, the strength of our stakeholder relationships and the extent to which we share a similar view on the issue with other relevant companies. 

Summary of our positions on climate policy

Our key positions on climate policy, as represented in our Climate Policy Principles, are outlined below.

Our advocacy on climate policy

The document below lists our direct advocacy on climate policy since July 2021. It focuses on advocacy that originates from BHP and is publicly available (such as submissions to consultation processes, speeches from senior leaders and media releases).