Our decarbonization roadmap includes projects to expand the use of alternative energy sources and reduce reliance on fossil fuels in our operations (Scopes 1 and 2). We also collaborate with our suppliers and customers to achieve reductions in Scope 3 emissions, which account for 98% of total emissions. 

Our minerals and metals will play a central role in the transition to a low-carbon economy. For instance, steel produced from iron ore remains the material of choice for wind turbines, transmissions lines, and the necessary infrastructure to grant universal access to electricity. Nickel, in turn, is used to manufacture high-performance batteries, while copper is increasingly vital to build the transmission infrastructure needed for an increasingly electrified world. This gives Vale a number of competitive advantages and places us in a unique position, with an offering of products that help to drive emissions reductions in the steel and base metals sector.

The protection and conservation of forests is also a strategic work in the climate agenda, as it contributes to maintaining and expanding stored carbon stocks. We help conserve and protect around 1 million hectares of forests in the world, 800 thousand hectares in the Amazon, where we have operated for 40 years and helped protect, in partnership with the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the Mosaico of Carajás, which is a huge area of native forest, formed by six conservation units, equivalent in size to five cities of São Paulo.

It is from this region that we extract approximately 60% of iron ore production, although operational activities occupy around 2% of the Mosaic's total, showing that it is possible to balance production and environmental protection, in a constant search for increasingly responsible and sustainable mining.

In the same sense, we established a voluntary forestry goal of expanding the forest areas that we help to protect by 500 thousand hectares, beyond our borders, by 2030. Furthermore, in 2022, we acquired around 133 thousand REED+ carbon credits, in a partnership between Fundo Vale and Grupo Algar to conserve the equivalent of 50 thousand hectares of forests (read more in Biodiversity).