In March 2020, I wrote an article on how the mining industry could, and should, mainstream biodiversity with the ICMM’s Hafren Williams. One fact, from my research has stuck with me to this day: that biodiversity risks have a higher likelihood and potentially a greater detrimental impact on society than failures of national governance, food crises and the spread of infectious diseases.
I challenge you to read that statement again and think about the magnitude of what that could entail. At the time of writing, I was, like most of you, locked down at home, watching the death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic tick upwards, and the potential implications felt chilling and suddenly very real.
I came away from that conversation knowing that nature and its valuation would be huge topics for the mining industry in the coming years. Fast forward to 2024, and the ICMM has just laid out a strong mission statement on nature. A few days ago, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) published extra guidance for the mining and metals sector on how to apply its LEAP approach (announced in 2023). In April 2024, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) stated it would “commence projects to research disclosure about risks and opportunities associated with biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services”. And the list goes on.
The truth is that, while miners have long understood that nature is important to their businesses, they’ve never before been required to quantify and disclose their impacts in this way or to this level. While many will have seen this coming – and don’t get me wrong, the enhanced scrutiny can only be a good thing – even for companies that are well versed in measuring and managing their impacts on the natural world, shit just got real.
It will be interesting to see whether the industry can rise to this challenge and lift the collective bar quickly. This is a rare chance to shine, and we need to grab it with both hands. For our own sakes, as well as that of the planet.
As you may have already gathered, environmental stewardship is The Intelligent Miner’s July editorial theme, so you can look forward to many more musings on this subject. Send me your own too. And remember, I’ll be taking my annual break during August, so the newsletter will be back the first week in September.
Until then, have a great summer/winter.
Carly
Mining’s nature dependency
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“We stand on the brink of a once-in-a-generation opportunity—to reshape mining’s future”
Rohitesh Dhawan