And it wasn't just any miner, but the world's second largest miner, BHP, which was founded in far Western NSW in 1885.
The oil and coal miner announced it would become the world's first miner to set goals for its customers, such as steel mills and power plants, to cut their emissions.
"These emissions are generated as customers transport, transform and use our products to serve the needs of billions of people," chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said in a speech in London.
Linking its emissions reduction targets to the targets set at the Paris climate change conference in 2016, Mackenzie said the mining company will next year set targets to reduce emissions from its own operations as a first step to zero carbon emissions.
But it will also focus on what's known as Scope 3 emissions, those arising from an organisation's activities but occurring at sources beyond their ownership or control. These are usually the greatest share of an organisation's carbon footprint, covering emissions associated with business travel, procurement, waste and water. They are also the result of use of an organisation's products by other companies or people — that is customers.
Mackenzie saying that customers' emissions from the use of its products are almost 40 times higher than the emissions from its own operations.
"We won't stop at the mine gate we will also increase our focus on Scope 3 emissions," he said.
"We must take a product stewardship role for emissions across our value chain and commit to work with shippers, processors and users of our products to reduce Scope 3 emissions."
BHP has also committed US$400 million ($603m) to develop new technologies to reduced its own and its customers' emissions. Additionally, the company will explicitly link carbon emissions to its executive bonus scheme.
"Over the next five years this programme will scale up low emissions technologies that decarbonise our operations. It will drive investment in nature-based solutions and encourage further collective action on Scope 3 emissions," Mackenzie said.
"We hope that greater commercial success of these investments will breed even greater ambition and create even more partnerships to respond effectively to the climate challenge."
Mining companies have long been reluctant to tackle the emissions caused by their customers' use of their products.
Much more typical than BHP's stance is the attitude BHP's rival Rio Tinto, which earlier this year rejected a resolution at its annual meeting to set targets for its emissions, including Scope 3.
The Anglo-Australian behemoth argued it had only "limited control" over the emissions of its customers.
Instead, Rio Tinto has focused on reducing carbon emissions from its own operations. While this allows the company to pose as a responsible corporate citizen and helps it pad out its environmental, social and governance reports, it does little to address the problem of global warming.
In light of this figure, it is hard to see the environmental "efforts" of any miner which isn't trying to reduce its customers' emissions as anything more than window dressing.
Rio Tinto's own operations generated 28.2 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions in 2018. This might sound like a lot, but is tiny when compared to the 536 million tonnes its customers emitted by consuming Rio Tinto products.
Of course, BHP wants to ensure a viable market for its products. It is smart to encourage their use in a less carbon intensive way.
It needs to stop or slow the growing movement for investors to divest fossil fuels from their portfolios by making those fuels more palatable. Other companies such as Rio Tinto have taken a different approach and have responded to the movement by divesting its coal assets, but BHP argues we still need coal, such as to make steel for cars and buildings.
While there is speculation that BHP might sell its thermal coal division — which produces coal for power stations — it will hold on to its metallurgical coal division, which mines coal for steel making, so it has a lot riding on this recent initiative.
Even so, there is some way to go for BHP on this initiative. Over the next year or so, it will have to set targets for Scope 3 emissions and detail how it will work with customers to reduce them. Only then will we have confirmation of how seriously it is taking its commitment. For instance, will it continue to sell coal to customers who can't or won't reduce their emissions?
Nonetheless, in an environment when consumers, investors and governments are asking companies to take more responsibility for the environmental and societal costs of their products, the move is highly significant.
It places a huge amount of pressure on others to follow suit.
