Mining 2030 Extends Engagement on Workplans
Investor-led initiative aims to unveil draft plans for consultation at OECD event in May, with conflict and benefit sharing taking centre stage.
The Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 has used the recent annual Mining Indaba conference to sound out feedback beyond investors and companies for its upcoming workplans for seven objectives.
The collaborative investor-led initiative released its landscape report on the role of investors in forging an environmentally and socially responsible mining industry in October. The report initially outlined six strategic objectives for investors. A seventh priority area, focused on the role of the investment ecosystem, has since been added to this original list.
The industry-led body is developing these seven areas into workplans, including a set of actionable recommendations to help investors support the mining industry its journey towards becoming more socially and environmentally responsible.
Mining 2030 held three multi-stakeholder roundtables at Mining Indaba in South Africa last week, with each focusing on gleaning perspectives on one of the initiative’s strategic priorities. The three areas selected were sustained benefits locally and nationally, reduced mining-related conflict and its drivers, and historic legacies addressed and positive legacies for current operations created.
The commission also hosted a roundtable on benefit sharing and the local inclusion of local voices at Alternative Mining Indaba, a separate conference held at the same time as Indaba for Africa-based communities impacted by mining and civil society organisations.
“[The conference] was a chance to kind of test ideas with wider industry, not just with an echo chamber of responsible investors or sympathetic organisation,” said Rory Sullivan, CEO at advisory firm Chronos Sustainability. “It would be easy for this to be a dialog just between investors and companies [but] Mining 2030 has made a deliberate effort to engage with stakeholders and voices who don’t normally form part of those discussions.”
In addition to investors and mining companies, Indaba was attended by governments, NGOs, civil society organisations, and local and indigenous groups impacted by the industry.
“Investors can’t do this in isolation,” said Gemma James, Head of Biodiversity and Nature at Chronos. “We need a multi-stakeholder, collaborative approach for what we’re doing here.”
Mining 2030 is planning to unveil draft workplans for public consultation in early May at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains. The body aims to issue finalised workplans at November’s PRI in Person in Brazil.
Navigating conflict
When considering both the direct and indirect contribution that mining makes to other industries, the sector could account for up to 45% of the global economy. Mining plays a principal role in the economies of 81 countries, home to half of the world’s population, and as such has a key role in the low-carbon economy transition.
The sector accounts for an estimated 4-7% of Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions globally, and as much as 28% when considering Scope 3 emissions. It also has a spotty record on ESG risks, including health and safety and indigenous rights.
Launched in 2022, Mining 2030 is backed by investors representing US$15 trillion in assets under management. It’s nine-strong steering committee includes the Church of England Pensions Board (CoEPB), United Nations Environment Programme and the Principles for Responsible Investment. Chronos acts as the secretariat for Mining 2030, with Sullivan the initiative’s project director and James its project manager.
“The conflict and legacy areas were two areas that weren’t as developed as the others and as we went through the research, we realized both needed some distinct thinking,” said Sullivan. “So much conflict happens around even the best mines or the most stable country. Investors need to think through issues [like conflict] much more carefully.”
Last month, Burundi and Rwanda-backed rebels captured Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a vital part of the region’s minerals trade, making the topic of conflict a particularly relevant one. The rebel group, M23, has seized important mining areas in several African countries since its formation in 2012.
“What’s happened in Goma appears to be a fairly naked grab for control of an area which is rich in these critical minerals,” said Sullivan. “The events in Goma have shown that this issue is fast moving and it’s difficult to know how to react if you haven’t done the thinking.”
Sullivan added that while the dangers of conflict arising from mining has always been an issue and looks set to become a bigger one. “The geopolitics around critical minerals have started to play out more quickly than expected since the report’s publication,” he said.
The commission is convening working groups to conduct research and development for the workplans ahead of investor implementation.
According to Sullivan the initiative has commissioned several pieces of research around conflict and benefit sharing to inform the work of the commission, which it aims to share more widely. Mining 2030 is also working on a short report about the key themes from each of the sessions it ran, which will release sometime later in Q1.
Separately, the Copper Mark, International Council on Mining and Metals, Mining Association of Canada and World Gold Council are imminently expected to release a second consultation on a draft standard to simplify current guidance and promote continued improvement of ESG practices across metal and mineral value chains.
A first consultation on the standard closed in December, and once finalised is expected to be adopted by 100 mining companies with around 600 operations in 60 countries.
At the Indaba, the Global Tailings Management Institute was unveiled to establish a new global standard for tailings dams. The CoEPB was credited with playing a central role in the institute’s creation.
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