Investors need to adopt a new approach to the mining sector if the industry is to meet the growing demand for minerals and metals needed for the green transition.
That’s the central message in a report published Tuesday by a coalition of some of the world’s biggest investors, including California State Teachers’ Retirement System and Allianz Investment Management. The Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030, which is supported by institutions with $15 trillion of assets, proposed several recommendations for how investors can help bring about “an environmentally and socially responsible mining industry” through steps including capital allocation and company engagement.
The technologies and infrastructure needed to power a lower carbon world from wind to solar and electric-vehicles will require vast amounts of minerals and metals, and often considerably more than for combustion-powered technology. For example, a typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car.
Mineral demand for clean energy technologies will need to almost triple by 2030 to align with the International Energy Agency’s net zero by 2050 scenario. And that means the companies that extract, refine and transport these raw materials will be essential players in the low-carbon transition.
However, mining’s long list of environmental and social harms from child labor to toxic waste have made miners a difficult prospect for some investors.
Adam Matthews, chair of the Commission on Mining and chief responsible investment officer at the Church of England Pensions Board, said in an interview that while mining is a systemically important sector, it’s historically been penalized by investors, especially those that track environmental, social and governance issues. Many ESG investors are underweighting miners because of past scandals, he said.
It’s time to change that equation and investors will play a key role in reshaping the mining industry, Matthews said.
“We’ve got to lean into the sector in a much more intentional way than just simply managing it within our own individual portfolios, and recognizing that unless we do so it’s going to be hard for the sector to attract the long-term patient capital it’s going need to meet future demand in the most responsible way,” Matthews said. “We’ve got to give the signals that there’s a long-term commitment from us.”
To do this, investors need to better understand the mining ecosystem and how they can influence it, the commission said. The group came up with six strategic objectives for its investor members, including developing a common set of expectations and advocating for better environmental performance.
“As a capital-intensive sector, investor support is essential,” said George Cheveley, a portfolio manager at Ninety One. “Engagement and improvement of this sector is vital, as divestment doesn’t provide any solutions and will slow down progress on the energy transition.”
And this effort isn’t just about miners, said Fredric Nyström, head of sustainability and governance at Swedish pension fund AP3. It’s about the whole supply chain for mineral-dependent industries ranging from automotives to renewables, he said in an interview.
“So even if you’re not invested in mining specifically, you may be invested in other sectors that have dependencies there,” Nyström said.
Other investors in the Commission on Mining are the global asset management business of Legal & General Group Plc, Scottish Widows and Royal London Asset Management.
(By Alastair Marsh)
9 Comments
Kunarso
I need a contact with an investor to invest in new copper mine in Papua Indonesia.
Steve Nordquist
Somehow you elided and the site lightly buried https://mining2030.org/resources/ where the 8.5 MB report and executive summary are. Super short given that they don’t much paint the _How Big Things Get Built_ tech one might use to do chemical mining and works in stone while masking out double column support in geoworks.
Claude Schaba
We need a contact with an investor to invest in a green field copper mine in the Lualaba Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Mike Hanley
There could be an important coming together of investment groups and the governmental bodies from US & NATO member nations to focus on the combination of the private sector investment capital into mining being the 20-30% cost share to leverage the federal funding and tax incentives for onshoring of critical mineral mining and critical mining beneficiation facilities,, from programs such as The Chips Act or Inflation Reduction Act or Critical Mjneral Programs like LPO / USDOE. This might also work to bring the feds and the large investment groups together in an industry consortium type of oversight board for bridging the social and environmental concerns.
Rusty Atwood
I need contact with investors interested in mining in Alaska for Critical Minerals like copper, platinum group, Fluorine, Scandium, Titanium and graphite.
Rishi gupta
What can i do for investing in mines industries
CLAUDE SCHABA
We are looking for an investor to develop a copper mine and to build a hydrometallurgical plant to produce copper cathodes at 99.99% Cu as well as cobalt hydroxide at 30-35% Co.
Tate
Hi Claude,if you are serious and have all the papers from the DRC Government may l have your email so that we can schedule a zoom meeting
Enam Hyder Choudhary
I need a complete Mining solution for large Coal mine & , lithium mining. Need to have prices and list of machinery.