THE Government will next year promulgate a policy to compel mining companies to disclose their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) plans before obtaining mining title .
The policy move, which is in line with international best practices, is aimed at addressing ESG concerns due to mining activities’ impact on climate change.
This comes amid growing concern over the contribution of unsustainable mining, land degradation, pollution from dumping of hazardous substances and emissions of harmful gases and chemicals to climate change.
In an interview after officiating at the 11th Mining Media Awards ceremony in Harare on Friday evening, Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Dr Polite Kambamura said Zimbabwe did not have legislation that forces mining firms’ to comply withSG standards.
“Currently, there is no policy that forces companies to comply with ESG and that’s why the Government is thinking of coming up with a policy which speaks to ESG.
“People should be cognisant of the environment in which they are operating, so we are considering coming up with a prerequisite requirement to issuing of mining titles, which will be an ESG that will speak to the environmental, social and governance issue of a company,” he said.
Dr Kambamura said in the ESG plan companies would also highlight how they would respond to community needs and expectations from the Government.
He said investors have just been going into the industry without demonstrating how they intended to respond to corporate social issues.
“It is important that we move with global standards and how countries are responding to climate change issues, green ethics and sustainability.
“We cannot be isolated from global influences,” he said.
“Some companies are already doing very well with regards to ESG, but there are some entities who are just looking forward to quickly getting returns without looking at all these aspects that surround industry.”
In Africa, countries that have enacted ESG laws include South Africa and Zambia, while on a global scale the United States led the way.
Mining is one of Zimbabwe’s key economic sectors, accounting for 73 percent of foreign direct investment, 83 percent of exports, 19 percent of Government revenue, 2 percent of formal employment and 11 percent of individual incomes.
The sector is expected to anchor the economy as authorities seek to achieve an upper middle-income society by 2030.
Zimbabwe is endowed with vast mineral deposits that include gold, platinum, diamond, chrome, coal and lithium, regarded as the mineral of the future due to its global demand in promoting green energy where it is used to produce batteries for electric vehicles.
In his address at the ceremony, Dr Kambamura said: “The mining sector is not only the backbone of our economy, but also a key catalyst for development and industrialisation. The industry sustains over 45 000 formal jobs and over 1,5 million other people who are in the informal sector or small-scale sector.
“Essentially, the President’s call for determined growth ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikhazi balo’ serves as a powerful reminder that we must build our nation through collaborative efforts,” he said.
Dr Kambamura said governance issues were central to the sustainability of the sector.
He said the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe conference in Victoria Falls recently highlighted that ESG principles were no longer optional.
“Responsible mining is a cornerstone of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1) and companies must now prioritise not profit-only, but also the well-being of the communities in which they operate-the in Zim mining industry workers that sweat day and night for the company, and the environments that they work in,” he said.
Source Herald
