Mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is standing by his green hydrogen plan after his decision to axe hundreds of jobs cast doubt on the Fortescue Group’s direction.

The iron ore miner turned energy firm slashed 700 jobs in a restructure on Wednesday, saying it would ensure the company remained “lean, impactful and agile”.

Forrest took to the airwaves on Thursday to explain the move and reassure investors he remained committed to a green energy future.

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“We’re not pulling back, this is something which I really genuinely believe in, I’m a hardcore bloke from the bush, I’m a miner, I’m a practical person, I’ve also had the good fortune to have an education in Australia, so I’ve really looked hard at the science,” he told Perth radio station 6PR.

“I just know that going the way we’re going with fossil fuels isn’t an option, the climate is changing dramatically around us.

“It’s been taken as ‘Twiggy is walking back from hydrogen’.

“Twiggy is not walking back from hydrogen. The world has to have it. We just have to work out how to produce it cheaply enough.”

‘Gutted like a fish’

The billionaire philanthropist said the uncertainty created by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and high costs had made the operating environment tough.

“We need lower power prices, hydrogen is directly a function of the electricity cost — if the electricity cost is high, then we can’t make hydrogen cheaply enough to compete with fossil fuels,” he said.

He said the 700 jobs were being cut to reduce duplication of roles across the business and lower costs.

Forrest said they included white-collar jobs in the communities, human resources and government relations departments.

“I’m a bloke who really likes to simplify things to keep things streamlined,” he said.

“Our organisation had been simplified down into one, from having management layers everywhere, we’re down to three.”

He said the job losses had left him “gutted like a fish with a blunt knife, mate”.

“We’re up around 15,000 people … 5000 contractors. We’ve let 700 people go. I just hate doing it.”