In a five-point plan announced in Davos, Switzerland, mining and metals companies representing a third of the global industry acknowledged past harm and said decarbonization must not be at the expense of nature.
BHP and Rio Tinto were among mining leaders pledging to take “urgent action” to safeguard land, freshwater, oceans, and the atmosphere.
“There is no escaping that the act of mining directly affects nature,” Rohitesh Dhawan, head of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), said.
“At a time when the health of our natural world is in peril yet the demand for critical minerals is set to soar, we have committed to significant collective action to help create a nature-positive future,” he said.
As the sector tries to regain community trust and attract scarce talent to expand mining, the ICMM said it hoped to influence the wider industry and encourage other sectors to play their part in protecting nature.
The CEO-led body said the new commitments built on the work of recent decades on habitat conservation, species protection, and landscape restoration.
Commitments on direct operations, value chains, governance, and transparency apply to all members.
Companies need only select “at least one” of three commitment options relating to wider landscapes and systems.
