Biodiversity

Biodiversity underpins the ecosystems that support life, livelihoods and the economy. Mining activities often intersect with areas of high ecological value. The industry and adjacent communities both depend on ecosystem services, such as habitat provision, clean water and air, erosion control and climate regulation. We’re committed to protecting biodiversity, and our ambition is to achieve no net loss (NNL) where we operate. This means striking a balance between impacting biodiversity and achieving mitigation outcomes.

Our Environment Standards outline the minimum requirements to protect priority biodiversity features and ecosystem services for our managed assets. The standards include our position and commitment to responsible biodiversity management and environment and nature stewardship. Standards cover the requirement to implement the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, restore, offset) throughout the mining lifecycle from exploration and studies all the way through development, operations and closure. This includes baseline and impact assessments, monitoring, adaptive management and materiality screening of biodiversity-related risks and dependencies across our portfolio.

We seek to enhance alignment with global frameworks through the continued improvement of our internal and external knowledge and reporting systems. For example, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). As ICMM members, we report our progress against the commitments outlined in the ICMM Nature Position Statement, in addition to meeting the requirements of corporate standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). At an asset level, we also focus on implementing applicable regulatory, lender (eg IFC PS6) or other commitments.

Our biodiversity risk framework is designed to ensure that the management of biodiversity risk is both operationally effective and strategically aligned with our environmental commitments and stakeholder expectations. Biodiversity is also incorporated within the principal environment risk we track.

To manage our biodiversity impacts and consistently identify, assess, manage and communicate biodiversity risk across our portfolio, we’ve developed a risk framework and associated control library. This risk framework is embedded in our assets’ approach to operational risk management. It covers 2 themes:

• Business activities causing unacceptable biodiversity loss (company actions that have the potential to harm nature) “Have we applied and documented our use of the mitigation hierarchy, including a plan to offset residual impacts?”
• Biodiversity loss constraining business activities (declining biodiversity creates barriers for business) “Are we confident we have access to, and management plans for, the operational resources required over the mine life?”

We use the framework to understand our risk exposure across our portfolio at a point in time. The information is shared to support conversations about our biodiversity management. We compile specific data from each asset annually on biodiversity planning, management, community involvement, ecosystem services, species and habitat status (including protected areas), offsets, and conservation actions. More detailed information can be found in the Sustainability Fact Book.

The mitigation hierarchy is central to effectively managing our biodiversity risks and impacts across our global portfolio. This includes:

Avoidance:

• Proactively integrate biodiversity considerations into studies and planning
• Prevent impacts through strategic site selection, design, and scheduling
• Reduce risk of long-term impacts to priority biodiversity features and systems

Minimisation:

• Implement controls to reduce the extent and significance of impacts that cannot be fully avoided
• Continuously monitor and adapt practices to effectively validate and manage impacts throughout the project lifecycle

Restoration:

• Restore affected ecosystems to recover essential functions and values
• Focus on habitat rehabilitation and ecosystem recovery

Offset:

• Plan and deliver measurable outcomes for residual impacts through biodiversity offsets

Partnering for success

Local community perception of our environmental impacts shaping our social license to operate. To inform how biodiversity is managed at our assets, we engage with First Nations and Land Connected Peoples, local communities and other stakeholders in the development of biodiversity management strategies.

At our Weipa operations in Far North Queensland, Australia, we set up the Land and Sea Management program, which employs Traditional Owners to help monitor and manage cultural heritage, plants and wildlife. This program enhances our shared understanding of the landscape in which we operate and enables verification and response to external pressures on nature.

Independent panels create opportunities for expert review, guidance and support at some of our sites. Our Simfer Simandou Mine in Guinea has established a partnership with the IUCN Species Survival Commission – Primate Specialist Group to collaborate on the management and mitigation of impacts to chimpanzees on-site and within surrounding conservation areas such as the Pic de Fon Classified Forest.

These programs and committees provide opportunities to balance the natural resource needs of local communities as part of our decision-making and management processes.