In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen - HIGHLIGHTS: Andrew Forrest - CEO of Fortescue

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

We've curated a special 10-minute version of the podcast for those in a hurry.   Here you can listen to the full episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fortescue-ceo-breaking-into-mining-going-green-and/id1614211565?i=1000774940168Nicolai Tangen sits down with Andrew Forrest, Chairman and CEO of Fortescue, to explore one of the most remarkable stories in modern business. From building a mining giant from scratch against a 60-year duopoly, to pledging to run the entire company on zero fossil fuels by 2030 with no offsets, Forrest has never been afraid to think big. They discuss his "crazy brave Plan A" philosophy, the role of AI in running smart energy grids, and his disagreements with some of the world's most powerful people over climate policy. Andrew also opens up about the accident that reshaped his priorities, his philanthropic mission tackling modern slavery and ocean conservation, and the simple advice that guides his life: be useful, and enjoy it. Tune in! In Good Company is hosted by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management. New full episodes every Wednesday, and don't miss our Highlight episodes every Friday.  The production team for this episode includes Isabelle Karlsson, Halvor Njerve and PLAN-B's Niklas Figenschau Johansen. Background research was conducted by Karoline Woie. Watch the episode on YouTube: Norges Bank Investment Management - YouTubeWant to learn more about the fund? The fund | Norges Bank Investment Management (nbim.no)Follow Nicolai Tangen on LinkedIn: Nicolai Tangen | LinkedInFollow NBIM on LinkedIn: Norges Bank Investment Management: Administrator for bedriftsside | LinkedInFollow NBIM on Instagram: Explore Norges Bank Investment Management on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everybody, tune in to this short version of the podcast, which we do every Friday for the long version. Tune in on Wednesdays. Hi everybody. I'm Nicola Tangan, the CEO of the Norwegian Southern Wealth Fund. And today I'm in particularly a good company because I'm here with Andrew Forrest, who is visiting us in Oslo. And Andrew, he is the chairman and CEO of Fortescue, one of the incredible companies in Australia, a mining company. You started it in 2003, against all odds. It's done extremely well, taking on. the incumbents, and now you are making an even bigger bet

running this as a zero fossil fuel company by 2030 with no offsets. And then you're giving away billions. So, warm welcome to Oslo. You are the type of guy we like. Thank you. Great to be here. Now, then you started Fortiscue in 2003.

Yes. Tell me about it. Fortescue in 2003 kicked off with a, well, it was like Anaconda, a concept, I announced that I was going to take on the iron ore industry, but not adversarily, but through building a railway and port system

which they could all share. Now, BHP, Rio Tinto, even Valle, they all own their own port and rail systems, and they don't share them with anyone. And of course, they were underutilized, fully underutilized, but instead of being infrastructure we all share, they were used as a barrier to entry. Now, I didn't really get that. So I said, I'll build a portm rail system and we can all share it and we can all do well.

And I'll just be an infrastructure provider. And they really said, well, how does get stuff sound? So this is how they tried to keep you out. Yeah. Did you have any money when you started up Fortisque? I think I had a mortgage. That's about it. How do you go from having nothing to building up one of the most successful companies in Australia?

Look, I think grit and determination. I mean, you have a, you have your eye focused on a goal. So we, we had our eye totally focused on building a port and rail system. And when the incumbent player said, well, we're never going to use it. So, okay, we'll, we'll then extend that target, we'll lift, instead of going backwards, we'll increase the danger, increase the level of difficulty and also become an iron ore producer. and we thought through being port and rail to supply other, to transport other peoples. When they said, get nicked, I said, okay, well, we'll go find our own ore bodies and explore them and try and get into the business ourselves, which was several times harder than just providing infrastructure. Yeah, yeah. But that's what we went for.

And Rio Tinto had controlled the iron ore industry in Australia for 60 years. 60 years. Okay, and then you just decided to take them on. I decided to take them on and everyone, Nikolai, thought it was impossible. Something happened in 2016. You had a personal accident. Wolf, you've done your research. What happened?

What happened? It was late 2015. It was a kind of life-changing event. I was hiking through canyons up in one of the most remotest regions of the world. It was absolutely wild. We took a weapon with us because there were crocodiles, which were around all the time. But we knew if we climbed higher and higher and higher, then the crocodiles would only stay in the salt water, not in the freshwater. So we climbed a long way as a result to make sure that when we stopped and met a helicopter with the family, that would be right out of danger.

part of this climb involved going around a ledge over a large pool of water and the ledge gave way and I slipped into the water and my leg got caught on a tree route like which came out of the bank of the river into a loop and back into the bank of the river and it snapped my leg like it snap a matchstick but the wrong way like it did that. It went the opposite way to how knees normally bend. And I think I might have passed out, but I remember when I first realised where I was and I was looking up at the surface of the water

and it had gone still. It had gone still like a mirror. So I realised that A I was on my own and B I was drowning and C I'd been there for a little while because there was no ripples in the water. I'd fallen and it was flat. and I then had to get back to the bank with my leg facing away from the bank, but I had to bring my body to face towards the bank to climb out.

And so I had to, this is not a pretty story, but I had to break my leg even further to twist it to get back to the bank to pull my head above water. And anyway, I got flying out. It was a wonderful helicopter pilot. it and I had surgery and I came out of that in a wheelchair. Why did you want to study the ocean? Because it's the most important part of the planet by a mile.

It's, you know, in this very thin veneer of atmosphere we have above terrestrial earth, above land. That's one or two percent of the world's livable space. The other 98 plus percent is all ocean. You know, from top to bottom, it's full of life. It doesn't matter if it's in the bottom of the Mariana Trench or on the coast at Norway. It's full of life. But most people don't care so much about the ocean,

but why do you care so much about the ocean? Because of that. Because, you know, I grew up, I actually grew up in the middle of Australia, right? So I mentioned that huge sheep and cattle. I'd call it a ranch or farm over here, but it was massive. And whenever I could get to the ocean,

which was long way away, I used to just love it. I just marvel at it and get in it and try and put goggles on and see what else was underneath it. So yeah, I've really loved it. So having studied it, how did you change your business? Ah, that's a big question.

So what the study of marine... In relative short. Okay, I'll be quick. The study of marine ecology taught me the four major threats are plastic, pollution, overfishing, and climate change. And I was able to, do papers in my thesis on the first two. But climate change was such a huge area. I was allowed to

study it, but if I tried to publish on it, then they said it's going to delay your PhD by up to two years. But the most impactful part of that PhD was learning the massive impact which global warming is making on the oceans, on the marine environments. And I thought, I've got to do everything I can personally to stop that. Now, I had this. Very successful company called Fortescue. By that stage, it was already Australia's most successful company by a margin in shareholder returns in stock exchange history. I thought, I've got to do more with this company than just sit on.

A bit of a tacky question in here. How much money did you have then? A tacky question. Yeah, I had a third of the company, say, $20 billion. It was $60 billion company. So you've got $20 billion. You'd do a PhD in marine ecology. and decide to focus in on the climate.

Yes. How will you take this going forward? What's the plan? I think that... No other miner have... No other mining company has followed your direction here. No, no. We have... I mean...

Look, no other miner followed me into iron ore. No other miners said, you can break the cartel between B.HP and Rio and Valé. They're the biggest mining companies in the world. They'll crush you like an ant. So I accept no other mining... company's following us now either. But when we save a billion dollars a year because we eliminate a billion liters of diesel, diesel equivalent from our supply chains, then they will all

follow, but they will watch until that happens. And that is happening. We're already starting to save operating cost, and that's a massive competitive advantage. We consider we're the most efficient mining company on Earth because we have the last cost already per ton. But when we go fully green, our costs will go completely out of reach of any competition until they turn green. And that's my message to the world. If you don't believe in climate change, well, you're an idiot. But if you don't, fine.

But believe in a better life. Believe in a lower cost of living. Believe in a lower cost of energy. That's green. Let's move on to leadership and culture. You've written a book about your 10 values. And in good Australian style, they involve some crocodiles and these kind of things. And here we have it.

It's being brought to the table. But, you know. Yeah, I just, it's... I love it. It's a very small book. It's a way to read it. It's, you know, like Mao Zetungs, you know. Yes, thank you.

What are the most important values in your company? Oh, look, it's really just saying, who's your favourite child in your family? I mean, you really can't single one out. I think the one which protects us most, I think you're a perfect example, is humility. Knowing, you know, greater than anyone else, you've got gifts which are different to other people,

but you might get great bricklayers or great singers or whatever. I mean, they're incredibly gifted people, but they're not worse or better than you. You know, so it gives you an understanding that urgency of great teamwork. Are the values your personal values as well? This is how you run your life? They are, as you ask.

It's funny that, isn't it, how personal values define company values. Yeah, they are. I haven't been asked that question, but you've put it on the table, they actually are.