The CEO of Swiss commodity titan Glencore has once again staunchly defended the company’s involvement in coal, asserting its necessity for the immediate future, despite facing scrutiny from climate advocates.
Addressing shareholders at the Theatre-Casino in Zug, central Switzerland, Gary Nagle, Glencore’s CEO, emphasized, “We continue to meet the world’s energy demands through a portfolio of steam coal.”
“While fossil fuels lack a long-term future in this world,” he affirmed, “they remain essential in the short and medium term to ensure energy transition and shift from a carbon-intensive world to a decarbonized one.”
While competitors such as Rio Tinto and Anglo American are divesting from coal, Glencore remains steadfast in its commitment to this activity, expressing its intention to responsibly manage its mines by gradually closing them as they deplete.
In 2022, this strategy proved lucrative for the Swiss conglomerate – active in both commodity trading and mining – as coal prices surged amid the energy crisis triggered by the conflict in Ukraine.
Glencore’s annual net profit soared to $17.3 billion in 2022 before declining to around $4.3 billion in 2023 as prices retreated.
“In a typical year, coal accounts for less than 10% of our revenue,” Nagle quantified, noting that coal’s share in the group’s sales – also active in metals like copper, zinc, and cobalt – is expected to diminish over time.
Under normal circumstances, outside of energy crisis periods, coal typically represents 5 to 6% of revenue, the group clarified to AFP.
Despite its efficacy, this coal strategy frequently garners criticism, including from investors. In 2020, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest investor, added Glencore to its exclusion list.
On Wednesday, approximately fifty individuals, including environmental activists and representatives from the IndustriAll labor federation, assembled at the entrance of the Theatre-Casino in Zug to urge Glencore to divest from coal and uphold workers’ rights. A dozen drums, adorned with black pigment, set the tempo in a cloud of dust symbolizing coal pollution.
“We’re here every year to hold Glencore accountable for labor exploitation and violations in the mines,” asserted Glen Mpufane, IndustriAll’s mining activities coordinator, to AFP.
“They deserve decent working conditions,” the union activist from South Africa reiterated.
Armed with shares purchased to attend the general assembly, Mpufane sought answers from Glencore’s leaders regarding wage conditions in a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.