🌱 What risks are there in mining?
Mining often occurs “in remote, ecologically sensitive and less-developed areas that include many indigenous lands and territories”.[i] Mining comes with a lot of risk and both actual and potential adverse effect. For example, when mining operations are managed poorly, they can “lead to environmental degradation, displaced populations, inequality and increased conflict”.[ii] Overall, the failure “to engage meaningfully with the [UN Sustainable Development Goals] will put [mining companies] operations at risk in the short and long term”.[iii]
🌱 What opportunities are there in mining?
Mining operations can “generate profits, employment, and economic growth in low-income countries”.[iv] If managed well, they “can create jobs, spur innovation and bring investment and infrastructure”.[v] It is expected that companies committing “to the SDGs will benefit from improved relationships with governments and communities, as well as better access to financial resources”. [vi] In line with this, companies active in the mineral extraction and mining sectors should take steps “to extract responsibly, waste less, use safer processes, incorporate new sustainable technologies, promote the improved wellbeing of local communities, curb emissions, and improve environmental stewardship”.[vii]
🌱 Why are partnerships important?
When it comes to mining, it is difficult to overemphasize “the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships and the involvement of all stakeholder groups at national, sub-national and regional levels”. [viii] For example, “through partnerships with government and civil society, mining companies can ensure that benefits of mining extend beyond the life of the mine itself, so that the mining industry has a positive impact on the natural environment, climate change, and social capital”.[ix] Multi-stakeholder partnerships can also “make supply chains more sustainable” and make it possible “to extract the […] raw materials” needed for the energy transition “in a socially and environmentally friendly manner”.[x]
🌱 How can companies take responsibility?
Mining companies – and electronics producers further down the supply chain – willing to take on responsibility for protecting forest biodiversity should carefully assess and address the environmental and social implications of mining critical raw materials. They should be conscious of the social license needed for mining operations, for which the expectations and standards are often far higher than what is required under the law. In line with this, they should set up better company policies, collaborate with producers and other stakeholders, and shift over to using circular business models.
This post has been adapted from a newsletter written by Christine Nikander and Heidrun Kordholste-Nikander. The newsletter titled “How does the mining of critical raw materials impact forests and their biodiversity?” was originally published in “The E-Waste Newsletter”.
[i] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, UNDP, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, World Economic Forum: Mapping Mining to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/Mapping_Mining_SDGs_An_Atlas_Executive_Summary_FINAL.pdf (26.08.2024)
[ii] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, UNDP, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, World Economic Forum: Mapping Mining to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/Mapping_Mining_SDGs_An_Atlas_Executive_Summary_FINAL.pdf (26.08.2024)
[iii] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Mining and the Sustainable Development Goals. https://ccsi.columbia.edu/content/mining-and-sustainable-development-goals (26.08.2024)
[iv] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Mining and the Sustainable Development Goals. https://ccsi.columbia.edu/content/mining-and-sustainable-development-goals (26.08.2024)
[v] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, UNDP, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, World Economic Forum: Mapping Mining to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/Mapping_Mining_SDGs_An_Atlas_Executive_Summary_FINAL.pdf (26.08.2024)
[vi] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Mining and the Sustainable Development Goals. https://ccsi.columbia.edu/content/mining-and-sustainable-development-goals (26.08.2024)
[vii] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Mining and the Sustainable Development Goals. https://ccsi.columbia.edu/content/mining-and-sustainable-development-goals (26.08.2024)
[viii] German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Mining in the Andean countries – How does it fit together? https://rue.bmz.de/rue-en/releases/forum-nachhaltiger-bergbau-79418 (26.08.2024)
[ix] Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Mining and the Sustainable Development Goals. https://ccsi.columbia.edu/content/mining-and-sustainable-development-goals (26.08.2024)
[x] German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Mining in the Andean countries – How does it fit together? https://rue.bmz.de/rue-en/releases/forum-nachhaltiger-bergbau-79418 (26.08.2024)