Dr. Andrew Forrest AO
Fortescue
As Founder and Chairman, Dr. Andrew Forrest has led Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) from inception to a listed natural resources company that has invested heavily in developing some of the world’s most efficient infrastructure. In 2021, Fortescue announced its commitment to become zero-emissions by 2030, and created Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), a developer, financier, and operator of a global portfolio of renewable energy resources to produce green energy at a scale equal to the oil and gas super-majors.
FFI is leading the green industrial revolution, developing technology solutions for hard-to-decarbonize industries, while building a global portfolio of renewable green hydrogen and green ammonia projects to produce 15 million tons per year of green hydrogen by 2030, rising to 50 million tons per year in the decade thereafter.
In 2001, Andrew co-founded Minderoo Foundation with his wife Nicola, and to date they’ve supported 300+ initiatives addressing modern slavery, ocean health, cancer, indigenous disparity, childhood development, artificial intelligence, disaster resilience, and plastic waste.
Dr. Forrest has a PhD in Marine Ecology from the University of Western Australia, and serves as an IUCN Patron of Nature, a World Economic Forum Friend of Ocean Action, and a member of the United Nations Environment Program’s Scientific Advisory Committee on the Assessment on Marine Litter and Microplastics.
Dr. Forrest is Co-Chair of the Australia-China Senior Business Leaders’ Forum, Global Patron of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and served as a Councilor of the Global Citizen Commission charged by the United Nations in 2016 to modernize the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 2017, Dr. Forrest was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to philanthropy, mining, employment, and sustainable foreign investment.