WWF Calls on Corporates to Implement Credible Mining Certification
WWF Germany recently published a report, Boom in Raw Materials: Between Profits and Losses, which offers one of the first concrete rebuttals from a major environmental group against the notion that industry actions alone are enough to move the global industrial mining sector towards greater responsibility.
Overall the report says companies need to take the following actions:
- Identify their risks and impacts related to mining and metals, and seek strategies with a range of stakeholders including NGOs.
- Demand supply chain due diligence from their suppliers to uphold credible mining standards.
- Implement credible certification at the mine site level.
In the sections of the report calling for corporate action, the authors point primarily to the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) as a credible, multi-stakeholder-driven option for assurance of more responsible industrial mining at the mine site level. . . IRMA was cited throughout the report as it is the only current certification system that offers a comprehensive standard offering one-stop coverage of the full range of environmental and social issues related to the impacts of industrial-scale mines.
