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A new study looks at the danger to biodiversity that could come from increased mining of minerals used to create batteries for renewable energy technologies . . . EV and battery industry are urged to source from IRMA-certified mines.

Until recycled materials become a feasible alternative to mining, the researchers say, the industry will continue to mine new materials to meet the growing needs of the energy sector, and renewable energy companies will be on the hook for ensuring that their emissions-free technologies aren’t causing potentially irreversible environmental degradation.

“[The] best practice is to source metals through verified high-bar standards/certification schemes (such as the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) [rather than through] industry self-monitoring,” said report co-author Dominish.

According to the report summary, the EV and battery industries urgently need to take action to ensure sustainability in their supply chains, particularly for the sourcing of lithium, cobalt, and rare earth metals.

Access the full article in the Pacific Standard.

“Canada is the undisputed powerhouse of the mining industry, home to 75 per cent of its companies — but the industry is plagued by allegations of rape and slavery abroad. Now those who feel harmed or violated can seek justice back in Canada,” according to an article published in The Narwhal on June 7, 2019 (Read full article here). In the piece, IRMA Executive Director, Aimee Boulanger is quoted where author Andrew Findlay says that Canadian companies need to do more to be responsible and cites IRMA as the independent standard that activists and industry are watching for as it becomes fully operational after its 12 years of development.

“‘We don’t yet have any Canadian mines that have come in asking to be recognized by [the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance] system, but we hope some soon will,’ Boulanger says.”

The article also states: “Boulanger places mining in a similar phase as the garment and forestry industries more than a decade ago, when consumers and activists began placing their practices in a glaring spotlight, whether it was a sweatshop in Bangladesh or old-growth clear-cutting in B.C. Such pressure helped put corporate and social responsibility at the top of boardroom agendas in those industries; Boulanger believes mining’s day of reckoning is next.”

“‘My hope is that CEOs will realize that they won’t be able to avoid this level of corporate responsibility indefinitely,’ she says.”

Access the full article on The Narwhal.

50 NGOs including Greenpeace, Earthworks, Global Witness and others signed an open letter to the World Bank stating that ‘where sourcing from mining operations is absolutely necessary, purchasers must insist that those operations adhere to stringent international environmental and human rights best-practices standards (such as those developed by the multi-stakeholder Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) with independent, third-party assurance of compliance.’

The letter was signed on the launch of the Climate Smart Mining initiative in Washington DC. The leaders also stated that an ‘essential shift is necessary in order to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees and avert the most disastrous impacts of climate change. And yet, even as new renewable energy infrastructure ramps up, we are concerned about the impacts of extracting minerals.

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New research commissioned by EarthWorks and done by the Institute for Sustainable Futures argues that demand for complex minerals needed by the rise in electric cars should come from recycled or be verified by certification schemes, such as IRMA.

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In February 2019, IRMA’s Director of Standards and Assurance participated in a workshop on how voluntary standards might contribute to a more responsible mineral supply chain for mined materials being produced in Liberia.

Photo Credit:  Lisa Sumi

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