KEY POINTS:
Australia's BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, has released its long-awaited climate change policy.
There are four key elements to the plan, which commits A$350 million to the research and development of clean coal technologies, as well as a strategy for helping staff and customers to change their behaviours.
The policy includes new targets to reduce the energy and greenhouse gas intensity of the company's products by 2012.
While A$350 million seems like a large sum, it actually represents less than 0.2 per cent of BHP Billiton's net annual profit.
But BHP Billiton chief executive officer Chip Goodyear defends the size of the company's investment in emissions reduction.
"It is four or five times what we would have spent otherwise in terms of this area," he said.
"It's an area that's not necessarily focused on financial return. This is really around supporting these innovative technologies and programmes to reduce carbon emissions."
- RADIO AUSTRALIA
