Mining magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest has been lauded for his vision to reinvest a portion of Fortescue's (ASX: FMG) profits into green energy and hydrogen projects, with his efforts earning him a place as the only Australian in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2025 list.
"While some people say that transforming the energy system is too challenging, Andrew Forrest has made it his mission to prove them wrong," the publication wrote of Forrest, who serves as chairman of Fortescue, and is also the co-owner of investment group Tattarang and philanthropic enterprise the Minderoo Foundation.
"Not content with building one of the world’s biggest mining companies, he’s now in the process of turning it from a major emitter into a clean-energy powerhouse through a massive switch to solar, wind, batteries, and green hydrogen to power its operations, way ahead of his rivals."
He first set up Fortescue Future Industries as a subsidiary of the group in 2020 with the venture supported by around 10 per cent of the miner's post-tax profits, but in 2023 the two companies were merged into one brand to signify their place as a "a unified global metals and green energy company".
By 2030 the group aims to have its Australian iron ore operations running on green energy and achieving real zero terrestrial emissions (Scope 1 and 2), with a net zero Scope 3 target by 2040 that addresses all of Fortescue's emissions across the supply chain.
In 2022 Fortescue acquired Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) and announced the world's first zero-emission “Infinity Train", an iron ore train that uses gravitational energy to recharge its battery electric systems.
Through its Fortescue Zero division, it is developing and manufacturing zero emissions battery systems, hydrogen production systems and technology to help decarbonise its own mining operations, and is selling the technology to others.
The group has also established a green energy investment accelerator platform, Fortescue Capital, headquartered in New York.
"In FY24, our emissions were around 10 per cent less than what we forecasted," Forrest wrote in his executive chairman's message in Fortescue's annual report, published in August 2024.
"We fully commissioned Australia’s largest gas and liquid hydrogen plant at our Christmas Creek mine, which is now being used to refuel a fleet of fuel cell hydrogen-powered coaches and our zero emissions prototypes.
"We tested our battery electric haul truck prototype, Roadrunner, at our Green Energy Hub at Christmas Creek and its hydrogen-powered equivalent is now undergoing similar testing after recently arriving in the Pilbara."
Fortescue has also embarked on commissioning its first 100MW solar farm at North Star Junction near Iron Bridge, as part of plans to build more than one gigawatt (GW) of solar infrastructure before the end of the decade.
"Our US$6.2 billion decarbonisation plan is translating our ambition into action," he wrote.
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