Report Once, Count Everywhere

Emission Reporting — Did You Know?

1. Value chain emissions can be up to 95% of a mining company’s footprint, and AASB S2 requires Scope 3 disclosure from year two.
2. 259 sustainability reports were lodged with ASIC for December 2025 year ends, the first mandatory wave.
3. The ISSB baseline is now adopted in 28 jurisdictions, with 12 more to follow, over half of global GDP.
4. A review of 42 copper producers found almost half had no stated emissions targets, and under a third had mine-site data.
5. Around 40% of mined copper now comes from Copper Mark-assured sites.

Frameworks are converging, not multiplying

The burden is fragmentation – the same emissions reported many times over, to different standards on different cycles. That is changing: the ISSB has absorbed TCFD and SASB, GRI 14 has set the mine-site benchmark, and four mining standards are becoming one. The task now is financial-grade data – governance, controls and assurance to match annual accounts.

The collaboration proof point

Four standard-setters stopped competing. The Copper Mark, ICMM, the Mining Association of Canada and the World Gold Council are merging their four standards into one, governed by a board with equal industry and stakeholder voice – covering close to 100 companies, 600 operations, 60 countries.

Reporting Horizons — Settled, Shifting, Emerging

Horizon 1 Established

• The accounting backbone: GHG Protocol corporate and Scope 3 standards, ISO 14064 verification and Australia’s NGER remain the measurement foundation.
• Sector guidance already exists: ICMM’s Scope 3 Accounting and Target Setting Guidance is the mining playbook; members disclose Scope 1 and 2 annually.
• Disclosure channels are mature: GRI Universal and Topic Standards, CDP and SBTi target validation are business as usual.

Horizon 2 Converging

• ISSB is the global baseline: IFRS S1 and S2 have absorbed TCFD and SASB. Australia’s AASB S2 is now law – Group 2 from July 2026, Scope 3 from year two.
• GRI 14 raises the granularity bar: effective January 2026, 25 topics led by emissions, reporting at mine-site level.
• Four standards become one: the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative is finalising a single standard of 24 performance areas for 2026.

Horizon 3 Emerging

• Nature is next: TNFD uptake is building and the ISSB has signalled nature-related requirements alongside IFRS S1 and S2.
• Natural capital accounting: pilots such as BHP’s Beenup work with CSIRO point to mining needing its own set of accounts.
• Digital benchmarking and traceability: COMET product-level carbon accounting, CRU’s Emissions Analysis Tool and chain-of-custody platforms make intensity comparable asset by asset.

Who Is Shaping It?