Today’s risks shouldn’t deflect us from tackling climate crisis

• There are indisputable success stories, but we cannot afford to be complacent and take our foot off the accelerator

The world’s ability to maintain economic resilience and support inclusive socioeconomic development and environmental stability looks fragile.

We have a clearer understanding than ever of how to achieve these objectives, but reaching them still seems elusive. Immediate risks — such as heightened inflation, trade tension, looming recessionary pressure and supply chain disruptions — need urgent responses. But they must not distract us from continuing to take action on the climate change crisis.

GOLD MINING

Our most urgent task is the need to rapidly decarbonise the global economy. Concurrently, as the physical effects of a changing climate start to have more widespread and severe consequences, we need to build greater resilience. The problem is especially urgent in countries that have limited resources and capacities. This is a global problem requiring global responses. And if we fail, all the interconnected risks — economic, social, and environmental — will only be exacerbated.

However, the challenge of decoupling greenhouse gas emissions from economic growth should not be underestimated. It requires us to systemically and structurally change the sources of power that have underpinned the global economy since the dawn of the industrial revolution.

The need to change power sources and systems, while avoiding economic deprivation, has particular relevance for countries across Africa, including SA. Laying the groundwork and building new energy infrastructure will require greater collaboration with local governments, stakeholders and communities. It will also require greater collaboration across sectors.

Addressing these challenges are high priorities for the gold mining sector. Mining companies are developing and deploying strategies to reduce climaterelated risks in the areas where mines are sited and in the neighbouring communities and beyond.

RENEWABLE ENERGY AND JOBS

Gold Fields, for example, has mines in both SA and Australia that are embracing renewables. Significantly, the company is committed to growing production while reducing total emissions, making its targeted reductions in the emissions intensity of production even more ambitious. Other gold mining companies are being similarly ambitious, including Iamgold in Burkina Faso, Endeavour in Ivory Coast and Resolute Mining in Senegal.

The precious metals mining community in SA also played a role in driving the government’s removal of regulations that had stifled domestic renewable energy development. The ability for gold mines to now self-generate power on a practical scale from solar plants is helping to create a viable source of skills and infrastructure that will benefit other sectors. In fact, allowing a local renewable energy sector to flourish invariably leads to job growth — often highquality jobs, encompassing transferable skills suitable for the modern economy.

We have seen this in several locations across Africa and beyond. In seeking to decarbonise their operations many World Gold Council members have been first movers in bringing clean energy to countries and locations where it would otherwise not have been present or affordable. This is a trend that will only continue to grow.

SETTING STANDARDS

In 2020, Barrick integrated battery technology into the Kibali power grid in the Democratic Republic of Congo to enhance low-carbon electricity provision from the mine’s three hydropower stations.

The development of these stations has also contributed to greater local power generation capacity, with additional benefits to neighbouring regions. While climate risks are the over-riding priority for the sector, the gold mining industry is in effect adapting to a range of challenges. To achieve its ambition of contributing to wider positive outcomes beyond gold sales and the mine gate, the industry needs to actively meet environmental, social & governance (ESG) demands in line with broader community, investor and societal expectations.

Given the strategic role gold mining plays in the economies of many developing nations, retaining and building the appropriate “social licence to operate” is critical to the gold mining sector itself and also to the stability of many local economies.

In recognition of the climate emergency, as well as the broader socioeconomic picture, the World Gold Council and its membership set out in 2019 to define a bold and comprehensive framework. The resulting Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs) define clear expectations for what responsible gold mining looks like and how operators can demonstrate their high standards of performance on a wide range of ESG factors. The RGMPs are mandatory for all World Gold Council members. They are also available — and recommended — to all gold mining companies.

ACCELERATING CHANGE

The industry’s recognition of its need to operate in a transparent and trusted manner, and to demonstrate high standards of responsible and sustainable business practice, has underpinned its ability to take ambitious steps to ensure it can contribute to social and environmental progress, including decarbonisation and local resilience. While solid progress has been made, we cannot afford to be complacent. Change is happening, but we need to continue to accelerate and expand gold mining’s transformation, particularly in how it generates and consumes power and how it engages with communities and stakeholders as it strives to adapt to escalating physical risks from an increasingly volatile climate.

However, while there are indisputable success stories, we cannot afford to be complacent and take our foot off the accelerator. Change is happening, and World Gold Council members are working collaboratively on this journey to transform gold mining practices. For the gold mining industry, the scale of the challenge remains large but the scale of the opportunity is immensely larger.

WORLD GOLD COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE WORKING COLLABORATIVELY ON THIS JOURNEY TO TRANSFORM GOLD MINING PRACTICES