A healthy environment
At Anglo American, we have launched our Sustainability Strategy, as part of FutureSmart MiningTM, our innovation-led approach to sustainable mining.
The strategy is focused on three global sustainability headings or “pillars” – Healthy Environment, Thriving Communities, and Trusted Corporate Leader – each encompassing three global goals. We call them our global stretch goals as they are deliberately ambitious - they will challenge our business to innovate and change - and we want to deliver them by 2030.
One of the three global stretch goals under our Healthy Environment pillar is Water - to operate waterless mines in water-scarce catchments (the other two relate to the complementary areas of Biodiversity and Climate Change).
Our Global Stretch Goals
- Reduce the abstraction of freshwater in water-scarce regions by 20% by 2020
- Increase water-recycling levels to 75% by 2020
- Reduce the abstraction of freshwater in water-scarce regions by 50% by 2030
Our Strategy is also informed by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including number 6: ensure access to water and sanitation for all.
Since 2013, we’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars investing in water management, infrastructure, treatment, and recycling. Last year, we introduced new water management standards and reporting requirements. Now every site has appointed, or is in the process of appointing, a water manager and we also have regional water management coordinators in place.
Our main risks when it comes to water are security of supply, managing excess water and water quality. The new reporting requirements mean we now have more comprehensive data that will allow us to calculate the water balance at each site and regionally. A site-wide water balance is an inventory of all sources and uses of water around the site. It tells us how much, and what kind of water, we bring into the mine; how we use it; and where it goes when we’re finished with it.
A regional water balance is an inventory of all users, consumers, and generators of water in the entire region around our mine. This gives us a clear picture of who is using water, and from what source, and what they are doing with it.
By the end of 2018, all sites will have finished updating their water balances. This information will help us to respond to the different levels of water risk in our various geographies and regions.
