b'Creating a more sustainable futureWhen the Thiess brothers started carving out a name for themselves in the 1930s,they did so as men who eat rocks and stones. They conquered what the earth presented to them by moving it and shaping it to suit the requirements of an expanding population that needed roads, dams, bridges and mines. The environment was something to be moulded and shaped, not harnessed or protected. Fast forward nine decades and the world is a very different place. In 1934, the population of the world was just over2 billionits now over 8 billion. Urbanisation has resulted in the need for infrastructure to a degree that would have been inconceivable to the Thiess boys and their industry colleagues back then. The energy required to keep the whole interconnected ecosystem ticking over is staggering. Many millions of people have been lifted out of poverty by globalisation, but that same high-octane growth has had a big impact on the planet, too. Global warming is the greatest challenge of our times, and fossil fuels like coal are no longer the panacea for the worlds energy needs. The energy transition is well and truly here, explains Michael Wright. Back in 2015, we became the worlds biggest mining services company, and the vast majority of what we mined was coalhalf of that was thermal coal. We started diversifying into other minerals and metalsto de-risk against price fluctuations, but now the imperative to keep diversifying is both a commercial and a moral one. The mining industry has been a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which means that it can also be a big contributor to an energy revolution. The world will still need coal for a while, but the need for copper, nickel and lithium is accelerated. There had been talk in the industry for a while about energy transition, but theres been a real change in global sentiment since around 2020, and thats injected pace and urgency to the transformation, Michael says. Its vital that our leaders ask where we wantand needthe business to be in the next three, ten and twenty years. Clearly, well stand by our thermal coal clients, but we build on that to aid the transition.It also makes commercial sense to be a part of that change in the industry, as wellas being better for the planet. But its not just that, Michael adds. We are also working towards finding ways to capture fugitive methane emissions that are a by-product of the mining process. We have initiated some trials to capture that fugitive methane, then use it in place of diesel to power equipment. Our vehicles have so many sensors that we get valuable, real-time data that can help inform how we can perform our work more lightly on the earth.129'