Our principles

We have committed to principles that guide our approach to equitable change and transitions: 

• Create opportunity for meaningful engagement and co-designed processes: We will seek to develop relationships with stakeholders and partners, including government, local businesses, community members, suppliers, Indigenous peoples and workers, that support understanding of the issues and co-creation of solutions. We will communicate transparently on the types of changes the business needs to make and enable active participation of those most impacted.  
• Recognise the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development are interrelated: We will aim to avoid or mitigate adverse environmental impacts of change and transitions, while pursuing opportunities to build climate resilience and environmentally sustainable communities.  
• Recognise our responsibility to our workforce: Where a major change in our business is expected to affect our workforce, we will engage in meaningful dialogue and support those impacted.  
• Recognise the impacts associated with gender, land connectedness and social and economic vulnerability: We will not assume all people are affected similarly. We will seek to understand how impacts may be differently experienced, including for Indigenous peoples, and recognise plans and solutions must take into account the particular strengths of each community and tackle the unique impacts they experience.  

Given change and transitions involve multiple stakeholders and partners, we seek to be a catalyst to bring people together and draw on our relationships to advocate for equitable change and transition in line with these principles. 

Our approach 

We recognise many of the communities where we operate rely on mining and associated activities to support their livelihoods. We aim to ensure change and transitions are equitable and deliberately considered across the lifecycle of our business and for the communities where we operate. We also acknowledge and consider that, while the energy transition is essential, the world’s repositioning must be aligned with international human rights obligations and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  

Our approach is grounded in our existing strategies, policies, standards and frameworks in relation to our people, the environment, communities and other stakeholders and partners. As equitable change and transition is intrinsically founded in human rights standards, our Human Rights Policy Statement, Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement, and Inclusion and Diversity Position Statement help underpin our approach.  

Our social value framework pillars provide opportunities to directly support equitable change and transitions, including for example:  

• Decarbonisation: Opportunities for post-closure land use options that support the energy transition; nature-based mitigation projects; and adaptation measures with potential for wider benefits to ecosystems and communities  
• Healthy environment: Opportunities for non-operational land to be under formal management plans that include conservation, restoration or regenerative practices, including projects in partnership with Indigenous peoples and local communities  
• Indigenous partnerships: Enable or support Indigenous access and cultural practices in post-closure land use options  
• Thriving, empowered communities: Co-created transitions that deliver positive long-term economic, social and environmental outcomes beyond closure; targeted analysis of factors that may influence levels of vulnerability or adaptive capacity within communities where we operate to support climate resilience   

Our Closure and Legacy Management Global Standard, Community and Indigenous Peoples Global Standard, Climate Change Global Standard and Environment Global Standard set out requirements aligned to our equitable change and transition principles. These Global Standards aim to achieve optimised closure outcomes and objectives, set mandatory minimum requirements for engagement and communication with stakeholders and partners, implement our commitments to human rights and Indigenous peoples’ rights, and manage environmental risks, in addition to meeting compliance obligations.  

New South Wales Energy Coal (NSWEC)  

On 16 April 2025, NSWEC received approval from the New South Wales Government of Modification 2 to continue mining at the Mt Arthur Coal mine to planned closure in June 2030. The approval provides time to continue working collaboratively with the community, suppliers and local businesses on plans to cease mining and deal with land and tenure BHP will no longer use, subject to future approvals, in order to transition the site and surrounds to their next productive use beyond 2030, while balancing business, community and regulatory needs and expectations. Following the approval, BHP announced a A$30 million community fund to support the Upper Hunter as it prepares for the responsible closure of the Mt Arthur Coal mine in 2030.  

In April 2025, we announced that we have partnered with renewable energy and infrastructure company ACCIONA Energía to explore the potential development of a pumped hydro energy storage project at Mt Arthur Coal. BHP’s conceptual studies show that a pumped hydro energy storage project at Mt Arthur Coal has the potential to support around 1,000 jobs within the Upper Hunter region in the construction phase, contribute to ongoing economic activity in Muswellbrook and provide power for up to 500,000 homes across New South Wales every day.