ESG and Mining: Critical Conversations With Industry Leaders 2024

Odgers Berndtson reached out to board members and executives with mining companies around the world to find out what they see as the foremost ESG challenges facing their companies, how ESG has changed their thinking and planning, which companies or industries outside mining serve as ESG role models, and how ESG standards might evolve going forward.

Challenges

• The mining industry has made significant strides towards achieving legitimate ESG standards, and the big challenge now is how businesses tell their ESG story.
• The link between mining colonialism and conflict cannot be ignored. Therefore, building trust and confidence with local communities, including Indigenous peoples, is one of the biggest challenges.
• Another challenge is to convince corporate end users of commodities to help improve the ESG performance of mining companies, as many of the end users are not doing enough to support the mining industry.
• Mining is a truly multinational industry and, of course, each country has a different legal and environmental context. Any mining company operating in more than one jurisdiction faces a challenge to identify and meet standards.

Thinking and Planning

• ESG is now a consideration in everything, including compensation, recruitment, and retention of talent. Acquiring a deeper, broader understanding of what ESG means for the industry is crucial.
• There is a new awareness that those directly impacted by mining projects must be involved on the frontlines of planning and operation. The goal is to work collaboratively to craft solutions to ESG challenges.
• ESG has amplified the need for the big players in the industry to step up and help smaller, junior companies meet new reporting requirements and standards.

Role Models

• The oil and gas sector shares many of the same burdens and has demonstrated some best practices in ESG.
• Manufacturing companies have demonstrated a broad awareness of ESG concerns and the importance of concepts such as the “circular economy”.
• Big players in healthcare have demonstrated the need for corporate interests to put people before profits at a time of great need.
• Industries and companies that looked outside their normal area of expertise have found ways to improve the lives of people impacted by their operations.

Evolution

• Globally, there will be a move towards more consistent ESG standards and definitions.
• ESG reporting requirements and standards will become more complex, and more stringent.
• Both mining and ESG will become more heavily politicised around the world.
• Mining companies need to pick up the pace of adopting technology.

The mining industry will play an essential role in helping the world achieve true sustainability. To find out more about predictions of how the industry might navigate the journey, read the full whitepaper here.

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