Australian Mining Magazine
Creating transparent ESG reporting in mining.
Article

It’s no secret that as technology and environmental standards evolve, mining companies are having to be increasingly transparent about their practices.

Investors are not only looking for opportunities and gravitating towards operations that are vigilant about their environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes, but also to those less deviant; ‘greenwashing’ is no longer an effective gambit.

Established by the Financial Stability Board, the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) provides guidance on the information companies should disclose to support stakeholders including investors, lenders and insurance underwriters in appropriately assessing and pricing risks related to climate change.

TCFD reporting became mandatory for all large organisations in the UK at the beginning of 2022, and while different versions of the framework are being established in other jurisdictions including the European Union (EU) and US, it is becoming critical in accessing finance globally, meaning Australian organisations will soon need to follow suit.

“TCFD is a financial disclosure and therefore requires chief financial officers (CFOs) to become fully aware of their organisation’s ESG performance,” Satarla co-founder and chief executive officer Sarah Gordon told Australian Mining.

“This significantly helps the integration and valuation of sustainability, as well as establishing where the accountability for good ESG sits within a business.”

To support this evolution, Australian mining solution specialist I4 Mining and UK ESG and risk management consultancy Satarla have teamed up to create a real-time, automated solution that assists the mining industry’s TCFD and ESG reporting practices by enhancing data access and connectivity to ensure companies are getting a full and accurate picture.

Rayven executive director of I4 Mining, Phillip McBride, said the mining industry hasn’t always had the best track record when it comes to ESG performance.

“Anyone who’s been around an enterprise knows there’s targets set at the top which are then pushed from senior management right down to the user at the mine level, who needs to try and execute on them,” he told Australian Mining.

“Then, when it comes to reporting on how a company is performing, many hours are spent collecting the data manually from different data source systems, pouring them into spreadsheets and creating opaque formulae that give an output.

“If that outcome isn’t the desired one, you’ll sometimes see data manually manipulated until it does.”

Gordon said this often leads to the creation of a static and diluted report which ticks boxes rather than accurately reflecting what’s occurring on the ground.

“TCFD reporting helps to change this. Transparency and accuracy are critical,” she said. “Science-based targets will begin to become the norm and those companies who don’t share this data will find it increasingly hard to gain access to capital.”

Today’s investors are too savvy and one step ahead of outdated ESG reporting practices, so what’s the solution?

“By using existing objective data and automating the process,” McBride said. “Through unifying data into a solution and then applying logic to analyse it, you can systemise expertise and deliver reports and dashboards that provide a transparent, real view of what’s actually occurring.

“Transitioning businesses away from a situation of misreporting to adopt a real-time objective solution gives transparency while enabling them to better manage ESG goals and determine what levers to pull to achieve them.”

Gordon agrees, suggesting companies that don’t make a change now risk being left behind.

“What you’ve got with TCFD is the need for behavioural change within organisations, underpinned by real data,” Gordon said...

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I4 Mining is a sustainability technology provider to the mining sector, offering ready-to-deploy ESG solutions that help miners to succeed both strategically and operationally without ever getting in the way of good business.

Our solutions enable you to easily develop strategies, deliver accurate sustainability metrics and reports in real-time, improve sustainability and business performance, as well as make predictive analytics and forecasts part of your everyday so that you can reduce risks and optimise from mine-to-market.

Speak to us today to book a demo and discover how you can get started on your digital sustainability journey.