Environmental impacts are business as usual in mining and other extractives. Yet amid an uptick in the demand for metals, minerals, fuels and rare earths that feed everything from cars to construction to clean energy technologies, the mining industry — squeezed by ever greater forces — is slowly shifting, and even cleaning up its act.
There’s no question that the mining industry finds itself in a hole, reputationally speaking. Activists long have targeted mining titans over working conditions, most recently in electronics and jewelry supply chains. Then there’s outrage over ecological degradation.
Yet more potent than lawsuits or sanctions is the market — the slow unraveling of the fossil fuel-based economy. As the price of commodities skyrocketed during the Great Recession, mining spiked, too. That “supercycle” is dead, but real “structural change” is also underfoot. Coal is no longer king; even its reigning companies are suffering steep drops in stock prices, and dozens of coal companies have filed for bankruptcy.
The industry is also getting shafted by the fossil-fuel divestment movement led by 350.org, which counts $3.4 trillion divested and includes 499 institutions, including major banks and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Tools abound, such as the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change guide, to help investors nudge mining company boards toward resilience and sustainability.
A PwC report on shareholder activism (PDF) and trends in mining didn’t mince words, saying, “The gloves are off.” A CDP report asked if miners are “chasing fool’s gold” (PDF), noting, “Some companies have not set targets to reduce their emissions over time, despite the fact that several are using internal carbon prices of up to $50 per ton, which could potentially reduce their profits by $10 billion a year.” To read more excerpts from the GreenBiz State of Green Business Report 2016 click here.