Previously, drivers behind Environment , Sustainability and Governance (ESG) initiatives largely centered around financial and corporate institutional concerns or opportunities in response to sustainable development goals and regulations. Today, the focus is much more around measuring ESG performance against a set of goals that satisfies the needs of all stakeholders to ensure sustainable energy outcomes are positive.
But to what extent are ESG policies being implemented in practice? What are the key barriers and challenges to adoption? And how can companies in industrial minerals mining adopt good ESG standards and drive better performance while also meeting the growing demand for minerals to support the shift from a fuel-intensive to a material-intensive energy system?
Proving ESG
In driving transparency and through engaging with communities, investors, customers and regulators on ESG, mining companies have to be upfront about how they are improving their ESG performance and particularly on whether or not they are meeting the required standards. To do this they often need to adopt a culture change, and they have to do this in a way that is credible and is backed up by robust data.
Thought Leadership Roundtable
At Seequent we wanted to find out where mining companies were driving real change in ESG performance and where there was still work to be done. To do this, we invited leading industry thinkers including Imerys, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and Accenture who joined us for a thought leadership roundtable event where we examined some of the key trends and initiatives that are pulling industrial minerals mining towards a more sustainable future, the drivers behind them, and how companies can harness the power of technology and data to propel them down the path towards high performance in ESG, more sustainable operations, and a certain future.
Following this insightful and lively discussion we have launched our new insight paper. The paper looks at ESG and business performance, the impact on culture and recruitment, and digital transformation.
Spotlight on ESG Performance
One thing that has become abundantly clear from our discussions is that the grace period for companies that are complacent about ESG has come to an end. Mining firms are increasingly being called upon to explain how they plan to incorporate ESG into their planning and operations globally and to demonstrate their ESG performance in a transparent way. Mining companies can approach this challenge from two different directions. They can either perceive it as a threat, which means a higher risk to being left behind or even driven out of the market, or it could present an opportunity to increase growth, enhance profitability and protect future operations.