Impact of Climate Change on the Mining Sector

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Table of Contents

Rio Tinto Mining
Investigation of Climate Change Issue
Reference List

The changes that occur with the climate have many negative consequences. In particular, they concern the mining industry since any transformation of external factors can directly affect the productivity of organizations in this field. In addition, companies should pay special attention to studying how human activity and other factors affect the environment (Hannah, 2021; Werndl, 2020). Organizations that are engaged in mining strongly depend on the area in which they operate.

Often, this kind of production is located in somewhat unfavorable conditions, which determines the importance of introducing sustainability into their permanent practice. Special assistance is provided in this case by forecast, which will help to predict possible changes in weather conditions roughly. These include drought or heavy precipitation or elevated or lowered temperatures can cause many difficulties in operating chess production (Carvalho, 2017; Chhabra, 2022; Hodgkinson and Smith, 2018). Henceforth, any climate change can have direct and indirect effects on the industry. The first, as already mentioned, includes the impact on production mechanisms, which will seriously affect the outcomes of the organization. Indirect impacts of natural disasters can become a limitation of the resources needed to continue chess production and maintain a competitive place.

It is also worth noting that climate change can have a cumulative effect and cause even more significant negative impacts on organizations. Sources note that “today, 30 to 50 percent of the production of copper, gold, iron ore, and zinc is concentrated in areas where water stress is already high” (Henderson and Maksimainen, 2020, para. 1). Thus, the problem of water resources becomes one of the most important ones. (Henderson and Maksimainen, 2020; Mavrommatis, Damigos, and Mirasgedis, 2019). This applies not only to the production process itself but also, for example, to the leaching of the resources necessary for it (Odell, Bebbington, and Frey, 2018; O’Neill et al., 2020). Companies that do not take into account the level of water stress at the start of work may subsequently suffer seriously and incur significant losses.

Climate change has a threat in the future with regard to water resources and their possible impacts. Therefore, it is noted that “by 2040, 5 percent of current gold production will likely shift from low–medium water stress to medium-high and 6 percent of copper production could shift from high to extremely high” (Climate risk and decarbonization, 2020, para. 11). These research results show that organizations that are not capable of resisting such weather conditions can suffer severe losses.

Rio Tinto Mining

This section of the scientific paper aims to study the sustainability operations that are carried out by Australian businesses to maintain the environment and reduce the possible effects of climate change. Rio Tinto Mining was taken as an example of such a company. After studying the necessary information on the topic of sustainability and Sustainability reports, the organization was allocated one of the activities that it performs to maintain it. Furthermore, it was noted that Rio Tinto Mining “put the low-carbon transition at the heart of the business strategy: combining investments in commodities that enable the energy transition with actions to decarbonize operations” (Our approach to climate change, n.d., para. 1). Therefore, based on this statement, the company forms its primary operations and policies.

Sustainability report 2021 made an exceptional contribution to the study of the research issue, which provides all the necessary information regarding the company’s practices and its results in this area. It also includes all policies related to the social, cultural, and economic impact of the company. Consequently, its managers consider it necessary to spread awareness about the importance of sustainability and preservation of the environment. At the same time, this factor concerns not only the production organization itself and its employees but also the entire mining industry and society as a whole.

Thus, it can be said that Rio Tinto Mining focuses much attention on climate change and its impact on them, which is undoubtedly its advantage. Moreover, the company itself notes that among the initiatives that help improve the environment are “developments in low-carbon technologies, such as renewables and electric vehicles and international coordination on climate policies, including carbon pricing” (Our approach to climate change, n.d.). In addition, it spells out and justifies its claims that the operation or activity is sustainable by providing access to its sustainability report.

Another positive aspect that can be noted is the involvement of stakeholders who wish to interact with the company in the practice of sustainability. Hence, it was mentioned that the negotiations on focusing on climate change were quite tricky. At the same time, the feedback received proved to be a valuable source of information on which areas the organization should improve its actions in order to achieve the most productive and effective results.

Thus, Rio Tinto Mining directs quite a lot of efforts to support the issue of sustainability and improve the state of the climate. The company’s managers, in their annual report, emphasize that many companies neglect sustainability policies, which will only slow down the actions taken by other organizations (Sustainability Report, 2021). In particular, the lack of emphasis on issues such as carbon emissions and noticing the impact of climate change was emphasized. Therefore, the mining company realizes and takes into account its responsibility for the creation of production facilities and the impact they have on the environment. Additionally, they ensure the ratio of what society expects from the policies on the sustainability of the organization and what it really shows.

Investigation of Climate Change Issue

Based on the results of this study on the topic of climate change and its impact on the mining industry, it can be concluded that there is a reasonably large amount of information on this issue. However, it is presented only on web sources, which are provided mainly by the companies themselves based on their research and annual reports. At the same time, it was pretty challenging to find the necessary information from the academic scholarly articles, the number of which turned out to be quite limited. It is worth emphasizing that this fact concerns only the literature on the impact of natural transformations on the industry of production and extraction of minerals.

Nevertheless, there are a large number of valuable sources that separately consider the topics provided in this work. Thus, during the analysis, a large number of articles about climate change were identified, which provided significant assistance in writing this academic paper. Similarly, it is also possible to find enough sources of the mining industry and conduct an independent analysis and synthesis of the information and data selected for research. Further, it can be concluded that additional information or material about the connection between climate change and the mining industry was needed (Ghadge, Wurtmann, and Seuring, 2020). It would help to more fully investigate the presented issue with the chosen company and business sector.

Reference List

Carvalho, F. P. (2017) ‘Mining industry and sustainable development: time for change’, Food and Energy Security, 6(2), 61-77.

Chhabra, A. (2022) Mining and climate change: Know top risks, strategies & how to practice accountability. Web.

Climate risk and decarbonization: What every mining CEO needs to know(2020) Web.

Ghadge, A., Wurtmann, H., and Seuring, S. (2020) ‘Managing climate change risks in global supply chains: a review and research agenda’, International Journal of Production Research, 58(1), 44-64.

Hannah, L. (2021) Climate change biology. Oxford: Academic Press.

Henderson, K. and Maksimainen, J. (2020) Here’s how the mining industry can respond to climate change. Web.

Hodgkinson, J. H., and Smith, M. H. (2018) ‘Climate change and sustainability as drivers for the next mining and metals boom: The need for climate-smart mining and recycling’, Resources Policy, 101205.

Mavrommatis, E., Damigos, D., and Mirasgedis, S. (2019) ‘Towards a comprehensive framework for climate change multi-risk assessment in the mining industry’, Infrastructures, 4(3), 38.

O’Neill, B. C. et al. (2020) ‘Achievements and needs for the climate change scenario framework’, Nature Climate Change, 10(12), 1074-1084.

Odell, S. D., Bebbington, A., and Frey, K. E. (2018) ‘Mining and climate change: A review and framework for analysis’, The Extractive Industries and Society, 5(1), 201-214.

Our approach to climate change (n.d.) Web.

Sustainability Report (2021) Web.

Werndl, C. (2020) ‘On defining climate and climate change’, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

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Impact of Climate Change on the Mining Sector

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