WORLD BANK LAUNCHES CLIMATE-SMART MINING INITIATIVE
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Concurrent with a new report projecting that production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt could increase by nearly 500% by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies, the World Bank is launching a new initiative to ensure that such resources are extracted in sustainable, environmentally friendly ways.
In its announcement of the new program, the Bank says that “while the growing demand for minerals and metals provides economic opportunities for resource-rich developing countries and private sector entities alike, significant challenges will likely emerge if the climate-driven clean energy transition is not managed responsibly and sustainably.”
The Climate-Smart Mining Initiative is intended “to help resource-rich developing countries benefit from the increasing demand for minerals and metals, while ensuring the mining sector is managed in a way that minimizes the environmental and climate footprint.”
Four building blocks
The initiative calls upon stakeholders throughout the energy minerals value chain to take a holistic approach that includes four key elements, ideally supported by strong government and regulatory frameworks.
- Climate mitigation
- Integration of renewable energy in the mining sector
- Innovation in extractive processes
- Energy efficiency in the mineral value chain
- Climate adaptation
- Forest-smart mining
- Resource efficiency
- Innovative waste solutions
- Reducing material impacts
- Adoption of a circular economy techniques
- Re-use/recycling
- Mineral supply chain management
- Creating market opportunities
- De-risking investments
- Leveraging carbon-finance instruments
- Robust geological data management
The Climate-Smart Mining approach builds on other work the World Bank is doing “to help ensure resource-rich developing countries benefit from their mineral resources and manage them in a sustainable manner, while fostering economic growth and development.” The Bank’s support is further intended to help governments “improve the investment climate by strengthening governance and building the capacities of key institutions, policy frameworks and legislation.”
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INVESTOR PERSPECTIVE: CLEANING UP MINING WHILE EXPANDING OUTPUT
Adam Mathews, Chair – Transition Pathways Initiative
Adam Mathews chairs the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), a global initiative led by asset owners and supported by asset managers. TPI is supported by over 120 investors globally with over $40 trillion of assets under management.
In an article for GreenBiz, Mathews says, “There’s no hiding from news of floods and droughts across large parts of the world. We are already in the teeth of extreme weather brought by climate change and the need for action to switch to a low-carbon economy is increasingly urgent. There’s also no hiding from the fact that if we are to deliver the change required, it will need a lot of vital minerals — such as lithium, copper, nickel and silver — to build the batteries, solar panels and other technologies needed to drive the transition … We are still going to have to dig these materials out of the ground in ever greater amounts.”
This means that “investors have a strategic need to press the sector to be as environmentally and socially responsible as possible … Investors must engage strategically across the whole mining sector to ensure it is able to play the role society demands of it.”
Mathews cites recently released data from the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) that shows major mining companies are moving in the right direction.
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AFRICA IS LAGGING IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION
Miners at an underground platinum mine in Rustenburg, South Africa, May 23, 2011
Africa is a vital continent for the mining industry. Yet, despite nearly 17% of the world’s population, Africa accounted for only 0.6% of the investment allocated for clean energy worldwide in 2021. According to a recent report from BloombergNEF (via mining.com), despite Africa’s natural resource wealth, rapidly growing electricity demand and improving policy frameworks, only $2.6 billion of capital was deployed for new wind, solar, geothermal or other renewable power-generating projects in 2021, the lowest in 11 years.”
“The global transition from fossil fuels to clean energy has the potential to benefit economies and health across Africa,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN secretary-general’s special envoy on climate ambition and solutions and founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“But as this new report details, clean energy investment in Africa is at an alarmingly low level. Changing that requires new levels of collaboration to identify viable clean energy projects and bring more private financing and public support to them – so we can turn Africa’s potential as a global clean energy leader into reality.”
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NEWS FROM 247SOLAR
247Solar granted Australia patent on core technology
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