The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM)
ICMM is a globally recognised member association of mining and metal companies. Since its establishment in 2001, the ICMM has set its strategic priorities on achieving breakthroughs for the mining sector in the critical areas of social performance, environmental resilience, transparency and governance, and innovation for sustainability outcomes.1
The ICMM’s remit includes the setting of industry standards that encompass social responsibility, environmental stewardship, and corporate governance. ICMM actively works to shape the future of mining by fostering responsible practices and enhancing transparency. They achieve this through capacity building, advocacy, and collaboration with its member companies. ICMM continues to expand and grow its influence, giving it a key role in the global mining landscape as well as a catalyst for positive change within the sector. In 2023, ICMM has undertaken a range of substantial commitments including an updated Human Rights Due Diligence Guidance and a new collective commitment by its members to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion in the mining industry.
ICMM addresses emission reporting at both the site and company levels. The council recognises the importance of disclosing climate-related issues so that stakeholders can measure and respond to climate change risks. This includes the risks addressed in the Task Force on Climate -Related Financial Disclosures. Thus, all members are required to disclose Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions on an annual basis and have emission reduction targets at a corporate level. On the 7th of September 2023, ICMM released Scope 3 Emission Accounting and Reporting Guidance, providing a framework for companies to disclose and calculate their value chain emissions.2 Scope 3 emissions in the mining and metals sector are significant, accounting for 95% of the total emissions, depending on the commodity. This new reporting framework helps members understand their specific emission profiles, align with the GHG Protocol’s Principles of Relevance and identify key areas for emission reduction. This initiative’s aim is to promote collaboration with suppliers and increase transparency across the mining value chain with customers to ultimately reduce emissions.
The Copper Mark
The Copper Mark® (Copper Mark) is the leading voluntary assurance framework to promote responsible practices across copper, molybdenum, nickel and zinc value chains.3 Through a range of initiatives Copper Mark demonstrates responsible production practices and instils confidence in stakeholders regarding the ability of copper production sites to adhere to globally responsible industrial standards and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Copper Mark oversees a comprehensive assurance framework that evaluates participants’ performance across the copper value chain, including copper mines, smelting and refining facilities and supports the circular economy. Guided by core principles, Copper Mark compares and measures participants’ performance against well-established standards, all with the overarching theme of developing a culture that promotes responsible practice.
Copper Mark is a crucial bridge that connects many facets of the industry, ensuring sustainable benchmarks are consistently met and upheld. Achieving Copper Mark allows stakeholders, including investors and local communities, to identify a copper site’s commitment to sustainable practices and their alignment with the UN SDGs. The Copper Mark is also focused on improvement and progress; this is reflected in its Theory of Change (ToC) initiative. This framework shapes the evaluation and monitoring system, which establishes the metrics for gauging the effectiveness of initiatives set by participants.4
The Copper Mark commenced in March 2020 and, since then, has made significant developments towards its mission to promote the responsible production of copper. Currently. It is a site-based assessment and there are currently 54 recipients of the certification, seeing a 35 per cent increase over the past six months. A further 39 sites have signed their letter of commitment to The Copper Mark and are awaiting assessment.5
In 2022, Copper Mark introduced the Chain of Custody Standard to build a more value chain-based approach. This standard ensures ethical and sustainable practices throughout the copper production process. It will also promote more engagement with the copper semi-fabricator industry. In other developments, in 2023 The Copper Mark, Mining Association of Canada, ICMM and the World Gold Council announced working towards consolidating their individual voluntary responsible mining and metals standards into a single global responsible mining standard, and multi stakeholder oversight system.6
Emission reporting at Copper Mark is outlined in Criteria 15 – Copper Mark Criteria Guide and underpinned by Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) recommendations. The RMI stepwise approach recommends the use of available resources such as the SBT Initiative, WRI, WWF and the United Nations Global Compact or the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).7
In 2021, Copper Mark and Commodity Research Unit (CRU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase transparency around emissions from global copper value chains, enhance accountability and raise the importance of measuring, reducing, and reporting on emissions throughout the supply chain. This includes the integration of The Copper Mark assurance award status into CRU’s Emissions Analysis Tool.8
The CRU tool is a digital platform that allows companies to compare GHG emissions across the complete value chain. The data is standardised and calibrated to existing schemes, including World Steel, EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the International Aluminium Institute (IAI). An example of output from the tool across 383 copper-producing assets ranked according to carbon intensity/production volume is shown in Figure 11 below.
Figure 11 - Sample of CRU Emission Analysis Tool (2021)
The tool enables analysis of process-level emissions across all assets and allows companies to compare emissions process by process. CRU’s tool provides an independent like-for-like assessment across the board and promotes impartial benchmarking through comparability and transparency.
In October 2023, Copper Mark, alongside the (RMI), announced the launch of the RMI’s Risk Readiness Assessment (RRA) and Copper Mark’s Joint Criteria Guide, version 3.0.
The RRA is a set of mineral-agnostic criteria for responsible production, sourcing, processing and recycling of minerals and metals. Version 3.0 of the RRA consists of 33 criteria covering ESG risks including emission reduction, and it defines due diligence requirements and responsible production, sourcing, processing and recycling practices for minerals and metals against which users can assess their performance.
From 2024, The Copper Mark will require all its new participants to be assessed against the RRA Criteria Guide, version 3.0 requirements. Current participants that are due for assessment in 2024 will be able to choose between versions 2.0 and 3.0 of the RRA Criteria Guide, and from 2025 onward, all Copper Mark participants will be required to implement version 3.0.9
Layers of cathode copper.
Australian Mining Industry
Australian mining companies utilise several emissions reporting frameworks to report their emissions and broader environmental impacts and sustainability outcomes. This section outlines key developments in the Australian minerals industry context.
Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) -Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM)
TSM is a globally recognised accountability framework that supports minerals companies in evaluating, managing, and communicating site-level sustainability performance. The MCA adopted this framework in 2021 to support the minerals industry in providing a consistent approach to assessing and communicating site-level performance.
Facilities report annually using a benchmark rating system. Every three years, an accredited verifier reviews the self-assessment to ensure that it meets the reported performance ratings. At this point, the company is required to submit a letter of assurance noting the external verification. An advisory panel oversees the TSM process and provides support to participating members.
TSM outlines a Climate Change Protocol, aligned with TCFD, which supports target setting, mitigation and adaptation strategies, and reporting. The Protocol includes a statement that MCA members “have the ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 in support of the Paris Agreement”.10
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Mining and Minerals Supplement
The IFRS Foundation oversees the SASB Standards, which enable organisations to disclose sustainability- related risks and opportunities that may affect the company’s cash flows, access to finance or cost of capital.
The Metals and Mining Standard under the Extractive and Minerals Processing Sector describes disclosure topics and metrics specific to this industry. While several Australian copper producers have reported against the SASB, it has now been incorporated within the ISSB, aligning with TCFD and in collaboration with the GRI.
The Australian Treasury has signalled that the climate-related disclosures for Australian companies will follow the ISSB Standards and is expected to issue disclosure standards in 2024 in a phased rollout over four years.11
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERs) - Clean Energy Regulator
Established in 2007, the NGER scheme has been reporting greenhouse gas emissions, energy production and consumption for many years. NGER establishes the definition of Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in the Australian context, noting that there is no widely accepted methodology for Scope 3. The Clean Energy Regulator notes primary metal and metal-producing manufacturing and metal ore mining are two of the top six emitting industries in Australia (by ANZIC subdivision).12
Climate-Related Financial Disclosures - TCFD
With the Australian Treasury undertaking public consultation on the application of the TCFD (stage 1) in Australian accounting standards during 2022 and 2023, several mining companies have initiated reporting against these standards. The recommendations for disclosure are themed around four core elements of organisational operation:
- Governance
- Strategy
- Risk Management
- Metric and Targets
The TCFD recommends that organisations undertake scenario analysis, including the 2°C or lower scenario, and determine organisational resilience to those scenarios. Supporting guidance is available to organisations to implement TCFD, and the Australian Treasury is further developing guidance materials for the Australian context.
The TCFD, with its final status report released in October 2023, has fulfilled its remit and has been dissolved, and the recommendations integrated into the ISSB Standards.13
