If this was your relationship to leave, you would have. But you can't. It's clear we should have begun rapid action on climate change some time ago. There simply aren't enough low energy lightbulbs and better choices to deliver the scale of change our world so clearly needs. The time for excuses is over - we need to break up with fossil fuels.
Governments need to act faster. All fossil fuel subsidies should be removed. All barriers to green industry should be eliminated. Politicians across the world have the opportunity to lead their economies towards growth. Businesses need to be held accountable.
We are no longer waiting for the solutions to be invented. The businesses that invest first will lead the market towards low cost energy as fossil fuel prices rise in cost and volatility.
Global warming is here. Extreme weather, floods, storms – we are living the impacts of climate change now. But there is another side to global warming, one that you may not even know about.
Rising temperatures are forcing up humidity. For every degree of warming, humidity rises 7 per cent. This rise in humidity and heat due to fossil fuels is already putting people all over the world at risk.
Why? Because when humidity is high, even relatively low temperatures of around 35C can kill people within hours. When it’s humid, your sweat can’t evaporate and you struggle to get rid of the heat your body is constantly generating. As a result, your body temperature rises, and rises, and rises. When it hits 41C, you can get heatstroke and ultimately die. If you have a reliable air conditioner you’ll be fine – but power is not reliable during heatwaves and 15 per cent of people most at risk don’t even have air conditioning.
Humidity is rising because the hotter the planet gets, the more water is evaporating from our oceans – and hot air can hold more humidity. It’s dangerous for two other reasons. Water vapour is a natural greenhouse gas – so it’s accelerating global warming. It’s also supercharging energy in the atmosphere, driving increasingly violent and deadly rainfall, floods and storms.
The industrial world is responsible. Business leaders and politicians are responsible. The greatest greenwash in the world is that the climate crisis is your fault. Fossil fuels are putting your life, and that of your kids and your grandkids, at risk.
Make us change.
One major company is making the clean break first… us. We are Fortescue. We are a heavy emitting business, but we are changing.
We are seeking to decarbonise our business, working towards real zero emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 2030.
If we can do it, so can other businesses by:
In FY23, Fortescue Energy continued to develop a dual-fuel ammonia powered ship engine. In the second half of calendar year 2023, it will undergo its first sea trials onboard the 75 metre Green Pioneer.
Battery electric trucks are part of the future. We have pioneered the technology. We hope that the example we set paves the way for all of industry. We have:
As part of the investment in our decarbonisation roadmap, we intend to deploy an additional 2-3GW of renewable energy generation and battery storage. We're also developing other world-leading zero-emission prototypes and products, such as:
We are making excellent progress with the electrolyser technology developed by Fortescue Energy. We are implementing the technology in our business:
We firmly believe that Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia are a strong alternative to fossil fuel. Green hydrogen is a practical and implementable solution that will revolutionise the way we power our planet, while decarbonising heavy industry and creating jobs globally. It can be:
We are heavily involved in developing projects around the world to unlock the potential of these fuels for our business and the rest of the world. Our current projects are:
You have power with every vote, every share, every purchase.
You may think it’s difficult to break free from fossil fuels and influence a business like ours, but that’s not true. You can exercise your rights with where you put your money and who you vote for. You have the power to hold business to account.
Write a letter to your local political leader. If they are not doing enough to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, vote for someone who will. Walk away from fund managers choosing to invest in fossil fuel corporations. Consume renewable sources of energy.
Its time.
Be the change.
Need further resources?
Breaking up with fossil fuels | UNDP
What You Can Do About Climate Change | US EPA
Climate Change Committee (theccc.org.uk)
Raymond et al (2020). The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance. Science Advances DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw1838. https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.aaw1838
Vecellio et al (2022). Evaluating the 35C wet-bulb temperature adaptability for young health subjects. J Appl Physiol DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00738.2021
Ebi et al (2021) Hot weather and heat extremes: health risks. The Lancet. 398: 10301, p698-708 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(21)01208-3/fulltext
Beggs et al (2021). The 2021 report of the MJA–Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: Australia increasingly out on a limb. The Lancet: DOI: https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51302
Romanello et al (2022). The 2022 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels. The Lancet: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01540-9
Freychet et al (2022) Robust increase in population exposure to heat stress with increasing global warming. Environ. Res. Lett. 17 064049. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac71b9.
Buzan and Huber (2020) Moist heat stress on a hotter earth. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 48: 623-655. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-053018-060100
Kang and Eltahir (2018) North China Plain threatened by deadly heatwaves due to climate change and irrigation. Nature Communications. 9: 2894
Wang et al (2019). Extreme Wet‐Bulb Temperatures in China: The Significant Role of Moisture. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 124, 11,944–11,960. https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2019JD031477
Zhang et al (2021) Projections of tropical heat stress constrained by atmospheric dynamics. Nature Geoscience, 14:3 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00695-3
Saeed et al (2021) Deadly heat stress to become commonplace across South Asia already at 1.5C global warming. Geophysical Research Letters. 48:7 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091191
Wang et al (2020) Intensified humid heat events under global warming. Geophysical Research Letters 48:2 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091462
Sherwood et al (2010) An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress. PNAS, 107: 21, 9552-9555 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913352107
Coffel et al (2018). Temperature and humidity-based projections of a rapid rise in global heat stress exposure during the 21st century Environ. Res. Lett. 13: 014001. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/aaa00e
Osilla et al (2022) Physiology, Temperature Regulation. Stat Pearls.
Foster et al (2020). Individual responses to heat stress Implications for hyperthermia and physical work capacity. Front. Physiol. 11: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.541483
Morris et al (2021) The HEAT SHIELD project. Perspectives from an inter-sectorial approach occupational heat stress. J Sci Med Sport. 24(8):747-755. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2021.03.001.
De Lima et al (2021) Heat stress on agricultural workers exacerbates crop impacts of climate change. Environ. Res. Lett. 16: 044020. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/abeb9f
Abokhashabah et al (2020) A review of occupational exposure to heat stress, its health effects and controls among construction industry workers, A case of Jeddah, KSA. Int. J. Biosci. 17:1, 35-45 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12692/ijb/17.1.35-45
Seng et al (2018). Heat stress in rice vermicelli manufacturing factories. Int J Occup Environ Health. 24: 3-4, 119–125. DOI: 10.1080/10773525.2018.1522102
Kovac et al (2010) The 20W sleepwalkers. EMBO Rep.11(1): 2. DOI: 10.1038/embor.2009.266
Leiva and Church (2020) Heat Illness. National Library of Medicine. Stat Pearls
Bouchama et al (2022) Classic and exertional heatstroke. Nat Rev Dis Primers 3: 8(1) DOI: 10.1038/s41572-021-00334-6
Baldwin et al (2023) Humidity's Role in Heat-Related Health Outcomes: A Heated Debate. Environ Health Perspect. 131(5): 55001. DOI: 10.1289/EHP11807
Hackett 2022 7 countries hold half of world’s population as it nears 8 billion in 2022: Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/07/21/global-population-projected-to-exceed-8-billion-in-2022-half-live-in-just-seven-countries/
Mishra et al (2020) Moist heat stress extremes in India enhanced by irrigation. Nature Geoscience. 13: 722-728. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-00650-8
Sherwood and Huber (201)0. An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress. PNAS 107: 21, 9552-9555. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913352107
Mora et al (2017) Global risk of deadly heat. Nature Climate Change, 7:7 p501-506. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3322
Filip et al. (2022). Global Challenges to Public Health Care Systems during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of Pandemic Measures and Problems. J Pers Med 12(8): 1295
Freychet et al (2020). Underestimated Change of Wet-Bulb Temperatures Over East and South China. Geophysical Research Letters. 47:3 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086140
World Population Review. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/wheat-production-by-country
Oxford University. We must break free of fossil fuel Stockholm Syndrome https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2022-06-20-expert-comment-we-must-break-free-fossil-fuel-stockholm-syndrome
Harvard University School of Public Health https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/fossil-fuel-air-pollution-responsible-for-1-in-5-deaths-worldwide/
International Energy Agency (2021) https://www.iea.org/news/pathway-to-critical-and-formidable-goal-of-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-is-narrow-but-brings-huge-benefits
NASA: How Atmospheric Water Vapor Amplifies Earth's Greenhouse Effect: https://climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-nasa-climate/3143/steamy-relationships-how-atmospheric-water-vapor-amplifies-earths-greenhouse-effect/#:~:text=For%20every%20degree%20Celsius%20that,to%20the%20laws%20of%20thermodynamics.&text=Some%20people%20mistakenly%20believe%20water,driver%20of%20Earth's%20current%20warming
NASA: How Climate Change May Make Some Places Too Hot to Live: https://climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-nasa-climate/3151/too-hot-to-handle-how-climate-change-may-make-some-places-too-hot-to-live/#:~:text=Raymond%20says%20the%20highest%20wet,begun%20to%20exceed%20this%20limit.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress/heatrelillness.html
Li et al. (2021). Influence of the shallow groundwater table on the groundwater N2O and direct N2O emissions in summer maize field in the North China Plain. Science of the Total Environment. 799: 149495 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149495
WWF. Living Yangtze. https://en.wwfchina.org/en/what_we_do/living_yangtze/#:~:text=The%201.8%20million%20square%20kilometer,wild%20animal%20and%20plant%20species.
Columbia University. Lethal humidity map based on Raymond et al. (2020). https://news.climate.columbia.edu/wp-content/themes/sotp-foundation/dataviz/heat-humidity-map/
US EPA https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-and-global-temperature. Up to 0.3C per decade.
Ning et al. (2022) Dominant modes of summer wet bulb temperature in China. Climate Dynamics. 59: 1473-1488
Carril et al 2022 Forced migration and food crises https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/forced-migration-and-food-crises
Xu et al (2020) Future of the human climate niche. PNAS: 117: 21, 11350-11355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910114117
Horton et al (2021) Assessing human habitability and migration. Science 372: 6548, 1279-1283. DOI: 10.1126/science.abi8603
Diagana (2021) For millions of Africans, climate change is already here | World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/10/west-and-central-africa-climate-migrants/
Reuters: South Korea evacuates thousands of scouts ahead of typhoon: China Daily https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-begins-evacuating-thousands-scouts-ahead-typhoon-2023-08-08/
Liu and Rafferty (2021). Country-based rate of emissions reductions should increase by 80% beyond nationally determined contributions to meet the 2 °C target. Commun Earth Environ 2:29. DOI: 10.1038/s43247-021-00097-8
Dawei Li et al (2020). Escalating global exposure to compound heathumidity extremes with warming. Environ. Res. Lett. 15: 064003
Douville et al (2022). Global warming at near-constant tropospheric relative humidity is supported by observations. Nature Communications, Earth & Environment. 3:237
Cvijanovic et al (2023). Importance of humidity for characterization and communication of dangerous heatwave conditions. Nature Climate and Atmospheric Science. 6: 33
Davidson et al (2019). Exnovating for a renewable energy transition. Nature Energy. 4: 254-256
Li et al (2020). Rapid Warming in Summer Wet Bulb Globe Temperature in China with Human-Induced Climate Change. Journal of Climate. 33:13 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0492.1
Pinchoff (2023). Census data in West Africa is badly out of date: 5 reasons fresh population statistics are crucial. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/census-data-in-west-africa-is-badly-out-of-date-5-reasons-fresh-population-statistics-are-crucial-205788
Yu et al (2022). Assessment of land degradation in the North China Plain driven by food security goals. Ecological Engineering. 183: 106766. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106766
Sobolewski et al (2020). The influence of air humidity on human heat stress in a hot environment. International Journal of Occupational Safety amd Ergonomics. 27:1, 226-236 https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2019.1699728
Im et al (2017). Deadly heat waves projected in the densely populated agricultural regions of South Asia. Science Advances 3:8 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1603322
Raymond and Horton (2017). Spatiotemporal Patterns and Synoptics of Extreme Wet-Bulb Temperature in the Contiguous United States. Journal of Geophysical Sciences: Atmospheres. 122: 13108–13124. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027140
The great climate migration. The New York Times (Abram Lustgarten) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/23/magazine/climate-migration.html
Song et al (2022). Trends in surface equivalent potential temperature: A more comprehensive metric for global warming and weather extremes. PNAS. 119: 6, e2117832119
Wang et al. (2019). Extreme Wet‐Bulb Temperatures in China: The Significant Role of Moisture. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124, 11,944–11,960. https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2019JD031477
Rylander et al (2013). Climate change and the potential effects on maternal and pregnancy outcomes: an assessment of the most vulnerable – the mother, fetus, and newborn child. Global Health Action, 6:1,19538, DOI: 10.3402/gha.v6i0.19538
Harvard Medical School https://www.health.harvard.edu/a_to_z/heat-stroke-hyperthermia-a-to-z & https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/heart-problems-and-the-heat-what-to-know-and-do-202206212765
Ebi et al (2021) Hot weather and heat extremes: health risks. Lancet. 398: 10301, 698-708. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01208-3.
Chen et al. (2022). Increases of extreme heat-humidity days endanger future populations living in China. Environmental Research Letters. 17: 064013
NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2534/scientists-assess-potential-for-super-greenhouse-effect-in-earths-tropics/
NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/vapor_warming.html
Bureau of Meterology (BOM) http://www.bom.gov.au/state-of-the-climate/australias-changing-climate.shtml
ASX release: Fortescue announces decarbonisation plans (September 2022). https://fortescue.com/docs/default-source/announcements/fortescue-announces-execution-plan-for-industry-leading-decarbonisation.pdf
Sun et al (2016) Contribution of urbanization to warming in China. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE2956
Zaz et al (2019) Analyses of temperature and precipitation in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir region for the 1980–2016 period: implications for remote influence and extreme events. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 19: 15–37
Russo et al (2017) Humid heat waves at different warming levels. Scientific Reports. 7: 7477
Rogers et al (2021) Recent Increases in Exposure to Extreme Humid-Heat Events Disproportionately Affect Populated Regions. Geophysical Research Letters. 48: e2021GL094183. https://doi. org/10.1029/2021GL094183
Singh et al (2019). Taking the climate risk out of transplanted and direct seeded rice: Insights from dynamic simulation in Eastern India. Field Crops Research. 239: 92-103
India Meteorological Data Archive https://www.indianclimate.com/relative-humidity-data.php?request=NNO28V3MDK
The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/18/world/asia/india-heat-death.html
NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3279/nasa-clocks-july-2023-as-hottest-month-on-record-ever-since-1880/
Ahima (2020) Global warming threatens human thermoregulation and survival. 130: 2, 559-562. DOI: 10.1172/JCI135006
Asseng et al (2021). The upper temperature thresholds of life. 5: 6, E378-E385. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00079-6
Professor Steve Sherwood, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate
Extremes, University of New South Wales
“We know heatwaves are getting worse due to global warming. But a lot of people and policymakers aren’t yet aware that rising humidity is supercharging these events. India, the Middle East and China already experience deadly heat and humidity, and the risk is rising rapidly.”
“High humidity at temperatures of just 31 to 35˚C and up prevents people from cooling down by sweating, leading to heatstroke and death. But rising humidity is dangerous for other reasons too: it’s fuelling more violent storms and floods, and water vapour is itself a powerful greenhouse gas. We need to act now.”
“Climate change is not reversible. Its impacts are not distant or abstract. The science shows it will lead to the deaths of our fellow human beings, putting at risk hundreds of millions of people if we don’t act quickly. This finding is backed by scientific consensus and the IPCC’s 2023 Synthesis Report.”