Associate Professor Evelyn Mervine recently joined SMI’s new Centre for Environmental Responsibility in Mining (CERM), where she will lead the Carbon & Climate Change Research Group. Here she talks about her background, career path, and work at the intersection of mining, carbon management, and climate change.
Where did your passion for research start?
I was born on a US naval base where my dad was a submarine officer and a nuclear engineer, so I was always interested in the ocean. After my undergraduate degree majoring in Earth Sciences and Arabic at Dartmouth College, I decided to begin my research journey in the field of marine geology and was admitted into the joint PhD program between MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Ironically, I ended up doing my marine geology research in the desert, in the mountains of northern Oman. Marine geology is normally very hard work because you need ships or submersibles, but in Oman you can walk around and study a slice of ocean crust and part of the Earth’s mantle that have been uplifted and emplaced onto land. It’s magical to walk on the seafloor in the middle of the desert!
What sparked you interest in climate and carbon research?
During my PhD, I studied how weathering of rare rocks influences the carbon cycle, so even in my early marine geology days I was already thinking about carbon and climate change. When I joined the mining industry after my PhD, I started in geology roles and eventually moved into climate change focused roles. My experience working in traditional geology proved very important for my later sustainability work. I think there is a lot of value in learning how mine sites and mineral exploration work before trying to implement changes to make them more sustainable.
About ten years ago, I became my company’s designated climate change expert, and I quickly realised that my PhD researching one small part of the carbon cycle wasn’t enough training, so I started studying for a master’s degree in carbon management part-time through The University of Edinburgh.
This gave me training in areas such as climate change law, carbon accounting, and environmental economics, and that broader training was essential for my later industry roles.
How seriously does the mining industry take climate change today?
When I began my first climate change role in 2015, carbon teams mostly didn’t exist in mining, but that’s changed significantly. There are now many people working seriously on carbon and climate change projects, not just superficial reporting and greenwashing.
I believe the recent trend of mining companies scaling back their internal climate change staffing is temporary because climate change risks are more urgent than ever and ultimately mining companies will need whole teams of people with different types of climate expertise. I also firmly believe that the mining companies that most effectively respond to climate change risks and opportunities will be the most profitable companies in the future.
What are the biggest challenges for mining companies?
First is reporting. Mining companies must accurately report carbon emissions and climate change business risks, including under new mandatory reporting requirements here in Australia.
When it comes to carbon accounting, mining companies are reasonably good at reporting conventional emissions such as from diesel and electricity but very poor at reporting emissions from land use change, geochemical reactions in mine waste, and fugitive methane. Before you can reach carbon neutrality, you need to understand all your emissions sources.
Second is decarbonisation. Emissions reduction, such as changing fleets, power sources, and processing methods, should make up at least 90% of carbon neutrality targets.
Finally, for residual emissions, you need to look at offsets through methods such as land restoration, mineral carbon storage, or other technologies, but only after you’ve done everything possible to reduce emissions.
What about climate change adaptation?
Even if we stopped emitting carbon tomorrow (which we won’t) many climate change impacts are locked in for decades. Mining assets will face increased risks from heat, drought, flooding, coastal impacts, and supply‑chain disruption. So, a key focus for the mining sector must be assessing how climate change will affect mining assets and making them more resilient.
Where do you see SMI adding unique value?
SMI doesn’t just identify problems: it develops practical, implementable solutions. After I finished my PhD, I initially didn’t pursue a career in academia because it felt disconnected from impact, but SMI is different.
SMI does applied research that genuinely works in the real world: it brings together people from academia and industry, and that combination gives you the best chance of implementing real solutions. That’s why I’m here, and why I’m excited to build this group.
One immediate priority is improving carbon accounting for land use change emissions. Drawing on expertise from land restoration work, we can help mining companies properly account for both ecosystem loss and recovery.
What motivates your work on climate change and gives you hope for the future?
Although I love rocks and minerals, ever since I started studying the carbon cycle in graduate school I’ve suffered from what I’d describe as climate change anxiety. I am deeply worried about what the world will become if we fail to face the climate change emergency.
There’s also a dangerous new narrative developing: that it’s “too late” to do anything about climate change. That’s simply not true. Although we can’t completely avoid climate change impacts , there is still plenty of time to significantly mitigate them.
We already have the tools and technologies needed to solve this problem. The barriers are primarily political and social, not technical. Mining can be part of the solution by providing (responsibly) the materials we need for decarbonisation.
