Environment / Natural Resources Management

A small town on the banks of the Amazon River, in the state of Pará, is the scene of the most ambitious project ever implemented by Alcoa, the world’s leading aluminum producer. It is here that the company plans to transform a bauxite mine into an exemplary case of responsible exploration. The challenge: to manage the impact of the project on the lives of thousands of residents who think Alcoa should not even be there in the first place.

This document aims to provide a user-friendly, balanced and impartial guide to help businesses to navigate their way through this maze. It seeks to articulate clearly the key aspects of three cross-industry initiatives.

This report explores the key environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities identified by the UN Global Compact of human rights, labour standards in the supply chain, environment and anti-corruption.

This article describes the Alcoa efforts for the R$3.5 billion project to be seen as a model for responsible business in the Amazon.

The present report focuses on and discusses Newmont Ghana Gold Ltd.’s social responsibility related to local community impacts and mitigation and the broader sustainable development commitments which will be integral components of the overall Ahafo South project.

A Turnkey Solution for Measuring the Sustainability of Organizational Water Use

This paper seeks to summarise the points of view of a group of individuals representing business, international organisations, and civil society who have contributed to issues pertaining to the right to water.

The case studies in this report show how leading companies have successfully responded to corporate water challenges.

This working paper by the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining Sustainable Minerals Institute outlines tools, procedures, and resources in community risks and opportunities.

Using case studies, this paper will explore the various types of social risks and opportunities associated with water and mineral resource development and identify key learnings relating to the management of these issues.

The CEO Water Mandate will seek to engage a critical mass of companies from around the world, willing to undertake serious efforts, in partnership with other stakeholders, to address the emerging global water crisis.

As the planet’s once plentiful blue resource gets used up, companies are acting to secure supply and be more efficient users of water.

This guide can serve as a reference document for the entire international PHE community. The guide provides a menu of indicators to be used selectively as part of the M&E of regional programs and country projects, reflecting the locally based nature of PHE programs.

Achieving environmentally-sustainable development in situations of surging population growth, declining biodiversity, and chronic poverty requires strategic planning, multi-disciplinary interventions and crosssector linked approaches that mirror the livelihood strategies of poor households and communities. This manual was designed with such a need in mind using evidence from programs in Madagascar, the Philippines, and other countries where integrated approaches to development have been explored and brought to scale over the past decade.

This book is a contribution to the evolving academic voice on corporate citizenship in Africa. The chapters have been broadly grouped by theme, beginning with the Introduction and Overview, followed by sections on Leadership & Governance, Community & Environment, Health & HIV/Aids, Industries & Sectors, Supply Chain & SMEs, and finally, Globalisation and Conclusions. This book is directed to Africans and others, living both on the continent and abroad, who share an interest and a passion for Africa and want to play a role in helping to tackle its challenges and embrace its opportunities.

This product shows the business benefits of sustainability by helping companies be more strategic about the CSR activities they choose to undertake and to achieve the greatest benefits of these through effective communication. The program provides tools and guidance to companies in designing integrated strategies and action plans, and helps them improve their transparency through guidance on best practice sustainability reporting, such as the Global Reporting Initiative. In particular, the program aims to promote better performance and reporting around community development, gender, labor, human rights, biodiversity, and climate change and more effective harnessing of the potential of the SRI market to reward companies who do so successfully.

The purpose of this work is to help track progress, generate greater accountability and build demand for closing the gaps between local government decision-making and environmental improvements. The environmental governance readiness assessment diagnostic, which is a primary output of this work, will enable a quick quantification of the performance and capabilities of local policymakers, local service providers and local communities towards improving environmental management of green (i.e. ecosystem and natural resource issues) and brown (i.e. urban environment issues).

This paper develops a conceptual framework to design and assess an environmental post-decision monitoring program under EIA procedures - INDICAMP. It also discusses how current indicator frameworks can be used to design and evaluate the performance of environmental monitoring programs in projects.

This document takes as its starting point the assumption that biodiversity conservation is an integral part of sustainable development, and that oil and gas companies should integrate biodiversity considerations into their Environmental Management Systems (EMS) or integrated Health, Safety and Environmental Management Systems (HSEMS) at a corporate and/or project level.

This module gives an overview of best practice in environmental monitoring and performance in the mining industry. The aim is to foster best practice principles throughout the industry. The module draws on experience of companies in Australia which already aspire to and use best practice.

In response to the issue of performance measurement, Rio Tinto and Earthwatch Institute initiated a project to identify and develop performance measures to evaluate the outcomes and impacts of conservation efforts for the sustainable management of biodiversity – particularly within the context of both organizations’ site related activities. Having SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time specific) objectives, the report summarizes and reviews the key considerations in biodiversity conservation performance measurement, describes the principal systems that have been proposed, the advantages and disadvantages of these and identifies further actions that could be taken by businesses and conservation organizations to develop biodiversity conservation performance monitoring systems.

These guidelines present recent examples of sound environmental management practices and regulations from various mining countries worldwide and are designed to assist government and industry, from both developing and developed countries, encourage sustainable mining practices. They encompass a variety of tools and systems, including environmental impact assessment (EIAs), environmental management systems and programmes, environmental monitoring programmes, environmental auditing and enforcement.

This document presents case studies on mining and biodiversity conservation by companies such as Alcoa, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Freeport McMoran, the Mining Association of Canada, Noranda, Rio Tinto, and WMC Resources Ltd. Each of the 17 case studies provides a brief background on the issue, followed by a description either the steps taken to resolve any differences or the program introduced to address the problem.

This paper provides an overview of voluntary approaches used in the mining and forestry sectors and the experience that has been gained with them.

This IPIECA guide is designed to help HSE professionals and other relevant staff, e.g. those involved with project planning, in the oil and gas industry to develop Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) for their sites and projects. BAPs are a systematic approach to biodiversity conservation that can build on, and be integrated with, existing company activities and processes throughout the oil and gas project life cycle.

This brochure describes the elements of an ecosystem approach to biodiversity conservation. It identifies potential implementation concepts and pitfalls to avoid. It is hoped that this information will assist oil and gas companies, governments, NGOs, and other concerned stakeholders to understand concepts that may be useful in applying the ecosystem approach to biodiversity conservation in the oil and gas industry.

There are two requirements for the consistently effective management of biodiversity risks in oil and gas development. The first is an awareness of the scope of appropriate biodiversity conservation actions for industry. The second is the timely identification and assessment of biodiversity risks and opportunities related to a specific project, in order to allow full consideration of these risks and opportunities during project development and implementation planning and at decision points.

These guidelines are a reliable, cost effective, industry endorsed method for reporting GHG emissions that can be used by oil and gas companies anywhere in the world.

The Guide is an extension of both the Environmental Policy and the Environmental Management Framework developed by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC). The Guide, specifically applied to tailings management, is designed to help MAC member companies perform due diligence in order to ensure that they are managing their tailings facilities responsibly and safely, which in turn can be demonstrated to regulators and the public.