In honour of this year’s World Environment Day (WED), we want to highlight the organisations and associations we work with to ensure our activities are as environmentally sound as possible.
In the article below, we have focused on three key partnerships that have each helped strengthen Anglo American’s environmental efforts across the world, supporting the message behind WED 2015: "Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care."
Anglo American has been in partnership with Fauna & Flora International since 2008 working to protect and increase biodiversity across our global operations.
At Minas-Rio, our iron ore project located in Minas Gerais state, Brazil, we have worked with FFI to develop biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) policy, strategy and action plans. This work began in October 2014 and has included high-level biodiversity risk assessments at the mine site, the Açu port and the 529km pipeline, as well as a gap analysis of actions required to meet international best practice in biodiversity management.
Part of this work included a 10-day field visit, carried out by FFI’s team to verify the main biodiversity risks and opportunities. An employee workshop was held to discuss the findings from the field visit and to identify additional risks and opportunities related to the business. Because of this work, we now better understand the risks associated with local biodiversity and have maximised our opportunities to achieve biodiversity conservation gains.
Our association with FFI also ensures we protect biodiversity in Finland at the Sakatti project - a significant Copper-Nickel-Platinum Group Elements project that is still in the exploration phase.
The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) was founded in 2001 to improve sustainable development performance in the mining and metals industry. Today, it brings together 21 mining and metals companies – including Anglo American, a founding signatory of the group – as well as 35 national and regional mining associations and global commodity associations to address core sustainable development challenges.
Recently, we worked with the ICMM, and other mining organisations, to publish a comprehensive new approach to managing water around mining operations that details the priorities of all users throughout the water catchment, as well as the water usage of the operation itself.
The new Practical guide to catchment-based water management sets out a collaborative approach to water management that considers the needs, concerns and priorities of other water users and promotes inclusive and ongoing engagement with all stakeholders.
The document guides companies in the development of their water strategies and plans in accordance with the local context and hydrology in which mining and metals operations take place.
A particular highlight from the guide is the ICMM’s Water Stewardship Framework, which sets out four core guiding principles that organisations should follow. Through responding clearly to these principles, the framework can help support mining companies by ensuring water use is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries.
Anglo American’s Standards have been developed to meet, at a minimum, the requirements of the IFC’s Environmental and Social Performance Standards, which define IFC clients' responsibilities for managing their environmental and social risks.
That’s how The Anglo American Environment Way has been developed – in alignment with these standards and comes in two separate documents: Volume 1: Management system standard and Volume 2: Environmental performance standards.
Collaboration is at the heart of World Environment Day. And that’s key to our environmental approach. We build relationships and nurture connections to ensure that we are partners in the future.
