Mining companies risk “SDG-washing”
Mining companies risk being perceived as “SDG washing” through their selective reporting on their contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This emerges from a new report by the Responsible Mining Foundation (RMF).
According to RMI 2020 report, companies often emphasize in their sustainability reports the positive contributions they make to SDGs, while omitting negative impacts that would hinder progress in achieving these goals. The report assessed a total of 38 major mining companies, which account for 28% of global mining activity.
RMF CEO Hélène Piaget said: “The SDGs provide a valuable social framework for reporting and acting on economic, social and environmental issues. However, an unbalanced emphasis on the “good” that companies do can mask the inherent or unintended negative effects that can hinder achievement of the SDG goals. “”
The one-sided reporting by mining companies does not give stakeholders a clear picture of the challenges the sector is facing in supporting the SDGs, the RMF said.
The report shows a modest improvement over the previous 2018 RMI report in many ways, but much of the improvement is due to the fact that companies make sustainability commitments but have significantly less evidence that they take those commitments with concrete action follow.
The RMF suggests that the mining sector would benefit from a more consistent implementation of commitments in all operational portfolios and areas in terms of performance and confidence building with other stakeholders.
The report also highlights how a distinction can be made between company-wide policies and standards and on-site measures at mining sites. Corporations often have little or no evidence that they share mine-level information about issues of high public interest with neighboring communities, workers, governments, and investors.
