It committed to reducing its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 30% on a net basis and by 50% on an absolute basis by 2030.

It's committed to net zero by 2050.

Gold Fields also set "ambitious new goals" - including recycling 80% of water, achieving zero fatalities and serious injuries, 30% of total value created benefitting host communities and targeting a 30% female workforce by 2030.

"Gold Fields has already made significant progress in many ESG [environmental, social and governance] priority areas, and we now have to build on this to meet our commitments to stakeholders and the environment," CEO Chris Griffith said.

The company said about a quarter of the $1.2 billion decarbonisation investment would be financed by the company, with the remainder funded through power purchasing agreements (PPAs).

Gold Fields said this would build on the $400 million already invested in energy projects, largely funded through PPAs, with renewables now partly powering two of its operations in Australia.

It said the capacity of the solar power plant being built at its South Deep mine in South Africa had been increased from 40MW to 50MW.

The company also planned to spend $325 million on reducing the number of upstream tailings facilities to three and a further $25 million to achieve Global Industry Standard on Tailings compliance.

It expected to spend $20 million to meet its water targets.

The miner expects attributable gold-equivalent production this year of 2.3-2.35 million ounces. 

Its shares are up 23% year-to-date but closed down 1.7% yesterday to R185.03, capitalising it at R161.5 billion (US$10.1 billion).