ESG Blog

If responsibly mined, gold mining can contribute to the socio-economic development of the countries they operate in.

We have just published the latest in the ‘gold and climate change’ research series subtitled ‘decarbonising investment portfolios’. This, the fourth of our climate-focused reports, builds on our previous work to quantify gold’s carbon footprint and its decarbonisation pathway. Combining these ‘building blocks’ has provided us with a fairly rounded and detailed perspective on gold’s relationship with climate change.

 “Our vision is not health for some; it’s not health for most; It’s health for all!“ So said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General at the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the United Nations General Assembly 74th Session in September 2019. Given recent events, a continued focus on universal health and well-being has never been as important as it is today.

Last month we participated in the Responsible Asset Owners Global Symposium. We have been a supporter of this event series since its inception in 2019 as it brings together leading investors to tackle important topics around the ESG agenda within the investment community.

Last month, we held a webinar with S&P Global and our Members at which S&P presented their Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). Many of our Members already submit the CSA and this was an opportunity to review industry data from past assessments and discuss how elements of the RGMPs could potentially be incorporated into their methodology going forward.

We’ve had an opportunity to speak to Philipa Varris, Executive Vice President, Head of Sustainability at Golden Star to dig deep into the company’s achievements when it comes to contributing to SDG 3 (Good Health) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

Investors are increasingly asking if gold can be considered an ESG compliant asset. We believe it certainly should and were delighted to participate in the webinar to highlight what the gold mining sector is doing in the ESG space.

Our new research suggests where, over the next decade, we might expect gold mining to be if it continues on its current direction of travel, particularly if the sector is able to extend and accelerate current trends.