Anglo-Swiss commodity trading and mining company Glencore said Tuesday it’s uniquely positioned for the needs of the future and is ready to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Retiring ceo Ivan Glasenberg said in the company’s preliminary 2020 results statement that while innovation and technological advances have transformed ways of living and working, the commodities needed to enable this have not.

“Our commodities are essential in developing all facets of infrastructure needed to deliver the goals of energy and mobility transition," he adds.  

The company has set out a strategy to tackle its emissions footprint, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, as it vows to become carbon neutral by 2050.

“We remain focused on creating sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders while operating in a responsible manner across all aspects of our business," says Glasenberg, while also announcing plans to reinstate dividends at $0.12 per share.

Glencore described 2020 as “a year of two halves," with the early Covid-19 impacts followed by multi-year highs for base metals. The first half was heavily impacted by low commodity prices and challenging early pandemic environment, which brought up impairment charges across the portfolio. During H2 2020, Glencore posted a net profit of $697 million as economies started recovering and commodity prices rebounded, Kallanish learns.

“The average LME copper price in H2 was 24% higher than in H1, while own sourced H2 copper production was up 15% over H1 levels," says the company. The LME cash copper prices averaged 3% higher in 2020 at $6,186/tonne, from $6,005/t in 2019.

While LME cash nickel prices were down 1% year-on-year at an average of $13,803/tonne, Glencore also benefitted from supportive market conditions and the absence of cobalt market challenges such as those experienced in 2019.

Nonetheless, the 2020 average price for Glencore’s key commodities ended up broadly comparable with 2019, contributing to a bigger net loss last year. The company posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of $1.90 billion in 2020, compared with a loss of $404m in 2019.

The majority of the company’s earnings comes from the metals and minerals that enable the transition to a low-carbon economy. Glencore is one of the largest global producers of copper, nickel, zinc, vanadium and cobalt and will continue to prioritise investment into these commodities.