International credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings has announced that it has affirmed Australian mining company BHP Billiton’s long-term ‘A’ rating, while its outlook for the company is stable.
Fitch stated that the affirmation reflects the company’s strong financial and operations performance.
The financial year 2021-22 was a record year for BHP due to higher commodity prices, leading to robust cash flow generation.
In addition, BHP plans to spend US$4 billion on decarbonization by 2030 and targets to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050. The agency expects the company to gradually progress towards its 2030 goal as switching to renewable power for its Chilean subsidiaries in the financial year 2021-22 reduced BHP’s scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25 percent compared to the financial year 2020-21.
Fitch forecasts the company’s EBITDA will be US$26 billion for the financial year 2022-23.