Responsible mining and sourcing

IPA members implement sustainability reporting principles for how organizations should communicate and demonstrate accountability for their impacts on the environment, economy and people, following global best practices from the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and the UN Global Compact.

The GRI now also features a sectoral standard on mining. GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024, which addresses the pressing need for consistent, granular, and complete reporting on the sector’s wide-ranging impacts and contributions to sustainable development. It enters into effect for reporting in 2026, with early adoption encouraged.

All members (except Japanese members) are contributing to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and report according to the standards developed by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation. The IFRS Foundation features two standard-setting boards, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB, founded in 2021).

Six out of 11 members apply the sector specific standards of the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB, now part of the IFRS Foundation), and 2/3 of members disclose information following recommendations from the Task Force on Climated-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) which has now achieved its mission and has been incorporated into the ISBB Standards (IFRS S1 and IFRS S2).

Other guidance like the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Sustainability Disclosure Guidance (2022) are currently evolving and only apply to those companies listed on the respective stock exchange. Regulatory authorities are increasingly making sustainability reporting according to outlined criteria mandatory. An example for this is the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which entered into force in January 2023. This new directive modernises and strengthens the rules concerning the social and environmental information that companies have to report. A broader set of large companies, as well as listed SMEs, will now be required to report on sustainability.

The CSRD aims to ensure that investors and other stakeholders have access to the information they need to assess the impact of companies on people and the environment and for investors to assess financial risks and opportunities arising from climate change and other sustainability issues.

Finally, reporting costs will be reduced for companies over the medium to long term by harmonising the information to be provided. The first companies will have to apply the new rules for the first time in the 2024 financial year, for reports published in 2025.

More and more regulations are being developed which cover supply chain due diligence such as the European Supply Chain Due Diligence Directive or the German LkSG (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains) which regulates the responsibility of German enterprises to respect human rights in global supply chains.

All these regulations do affect companies that are selling their products into the European market, and are likely to have spill-over effects into other jurisdictions.

The first companies will have to apply the new rules for the first time in the 2024 financial year, for reports published in 2025

The PGM industry is strongly committed to the principles of responsible mining and sourcing with the aim to communicate transparently on the status of sustainability assurance of our members. The role of IPA is to facilitate good practice exchange, collaboration, and engagement in response to challenges, managing risks and creating value along the PGM supply chain for all relevant stakeholders. IPA is standard-agnostic hence not imposing a specific standard on mining companies. However, existing audit schemes have been evaluated by the IPA Sustainability Committee regarding scope, recognised quality management standards as well as accepted audit practices.

Based on this evaluation, the mining members of the IPA have committed to be independently audited either against the Initiative of Responsible Mining Assurance’s ‘Standard for Responsible Mining’ (IRMA) or the Together for Sustainability (TfS) audit with enhanced mining protocol (eTfS).

Some of the IPA members are also ICMM members and have conducted their self-assessments against ICMM Performance Expectations.

IRMA’s Standard for Responsible Mining has been developed over ten years through a public consultation process with more than 100 different individuals and organisations, including mining companies, customers and the ultimate downstream users of mined products, NGOs, labour unions, and communities. IRMA’s approach to responsible mining is to assess social and environmental performance at mine sites globally using an internationally recognized standard that has been developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and is based on multi-stakeholder leadership. Audits are made publicly available.

IRMA case study

Together for Sustainability (TfS) is actively raising CSR standards throughout the chemical industry. Members are chemical companies committed to making sustainability improvements within their own – and their suppliers’ – operations. Members are also looking into other certification schemes such as the ICMM’s Mining Principles (ICMM).