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Zero means zero

Real Zero means eliminating fossil fuels from your operations and value chains. Not offsetting them, not balancing them out, not pushing them somewhere else. Not net. Not nearly. Zero. 

It's the standard we’re pushing industry, governments and markets to adopt.   

Real Zero isn't just a climate commitment. It's a competitive one. 

Fossil fuels aren’t just bad for the planet. They’re bad for business. Prices spike without warning. Supply chains buckle. Policy shifts overnight. And every litre you burn adds cost, risk and complexity you don’t control. 

Real Zero cuts that exposure out. And replaces it with energy you own, run and scale, at costs that trend one way: down. 

  • Cut one of your biggest costs 

    Renewable energy is now the cheapest form of new power generation in most of the world. Strip out fossil fuels and you strip out rising input costs and constant maintenance. What’s left is simpler, cleaner, and cheaper to run.

  • Take back control

    Relying on fossil fuels means betting your business on things you can’t control - markets, policy, carbon costs and supply shocks. Real Zero changes that, reducing exposure, increasing certainty and strengthening your position with regulators, investors and communities.

  • Win the work others can't

    The shift is already happening. Financiers are backing it and customers are demanding it. If you can’t prove zero emissions, you won’t make the shortlist. Real Zero doesn’t just future-proof your business, it puts you at the front of the line.

Real Zero eliminates emissions. Net Zero manages them.

When most people hear "net zero" they assume it means no emissions. It doesn't. 

Net Zero allows fossil fuels to keep burning, as long as those emissions are offset somewhere else. A forest planted. A credit purchased. A checkbox ticked.

The problem isn't solved. It's moved. 

Real Zero is different. It means stopping fossil fuels at the source and replacing them with renewables, electrification and green fuels. The emissions aren't shifted. They're removed. 

If you want real climate progress, emissions must be cut where they're created. 

Real Zero. Everywhere. 

We're not just advocating for a new standard. We're proving it's possible, and taking it global.  

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    Driving the solutions

    Real change demands innovation. Through Fortescue Zero, our R&D and commercialisation arm, we’re driving the zero-emissions technology solutions the world needs to decarbonise. From high performance batteries to smarter energy systems and beyond.

  • Our Green Grid

    The most powerful argument for Real Zero is doing it. We're building the world's first fully integrated industrial green grid — powering our entire Pilbara operation on renewable energy, around the clock, with zero fossil fuels. This is what Real Zero looks like in motion.

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    Shipping. Reinvented.

    Global shipping produces 700 million tonnes of emissions every year. Our Green Pioneer vessel shows zero-emissions shipping isn't a future concept, it's being tested today.

  • Changing the rules.

    Global shipping rules shape global shipping emissions. We're at the table at the IMO pushing for the stronger regulatory action needed to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels, because industry leadership alone isn't enough.

  • Reinventing Steel

    Steel production accounts for nearly 9% of global carbon emissions. We're building the green iron technologies that will define the future of the resources industry, electrification, green hydrogen and beyond.

How are we getting to Real Zero?

We don't just encourage the world to decarbonise. We're proving it can be done.

We've set a target to eliminate emissions from our scope 1 and 2 terrestrial iron ore operations by 2030. Our decarbonisation program is how we get there.

Learn more about our decarbonisation program

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