As stewards of the lands and waters upon which South32 operates, it is our responsibility to minimise our impacts to the natural environment.
We work hard to be responsible stewards of the environment and aim to safely manage tailings and waste, rehabilitate land disturbed by our activities and make positive contributions to communities where we operate. Our approach to environmental management is guided by the ICMM’s Mining Principles and associated Position Statements.
Our CEO and Lead Team are responsible for identifying and managing material and strategic risks, including in relation to environmental management, and for assessing environmental consequences of decisions and actions and the impact on our strategy.
Our operations are responsible for integrating environmental risks and opportunities into life of operation planning and risk management processes. Implementation is supported through our internal environment and climate change standard which defines minimum performance requirements for managing environmental and climate-related risks and opportunities.
In FY23, we commenced a program of work to identify and assess our impacts and dependencies where we interface with the natural environment. In FY24, we focused on deepening our understanding of present impacts and dependencies, including across the value chain, forecasting expected future impacts and dependencies, and assessing associated risks and opportunities. This work will shape our approach to addressing nature-related risks and opportunities which we plan to publish in 2025.
We recognise the importance of protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services and aim to achieve no net loss for all our new projects and major expansions.
It is our responsibility to minimise the impacts to the environment and to rehabilitate land disturbed by our activities.
Water is a vital shared resource with high social, cultural, spiritual, environmental, and economic value. In many of the areas where we operate, water is scarce and in other regions, in excess, each with their own challenges and opportunities.
Our approach to water stewardship aims to work towards sustainably managing water resources within our operations and contributing to addressing the shared water challenges in the catchments where we operate.
The safe management of tailings storage facilities (TSFs) is essential to protect the environment and surrounding communities. We are committed to implementing the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management at all South32 operated TSFs.
The safe management of waste, contamination risks and air emissions from our operations and projects is essential to operating responsibly and we are committed to minimising impacts to our people, communities and the environment.
We are committed to closing our operating assets in a responsible manner that aligns with our purpose and meets our regulatory obligations and commitments to stakeholders. We prioritise effective closure planning from the early stages of development and throughout the lifecycle of our operations.
Preparing a mine closure plan at this relatively early stage in the mining lifecycle has provided the opportunity to integrate mine closure planning, risk assessment and financial provision into the overall development plan of a greenfield project.
South32 is providing funding to support AWC’s Mount Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary conservation project, which is helping to re-establish, monitor and protect significant populations of threatened mammal species in Western Australia, as well as going towards other initiatives.
Colombia has the greatest diversity of bird species in the world and is a habitat for 20 per cent of all birds globally. The forests surrounding Cerro Matoso are home to at least 280 different bird species, with some classified as threatened.
