We were delighted to be involved in the Critical Minerals Association's latest ESG paper, 'Building the UK’s Green Economy: Breaking Down Barriers for Responsible Sourcing of Critical Minerals', which was launched at an event in the Churchill room at Westminster yesterday evening.
The paper outlines issues affecting the critical minerals industry, and the barriers to securing a responsible supply of critical minerals to feed the UK's downstream sector. We heard from key contributors including Kirsty Benham and Olimpia Pilch of the CMA, Cherilyn Mackrory MP and Chair of the APPG Critical Minerals, Julian Kettle from Wood Mackenzie, and our very own Aldo Pennini, who underscored the challenges and opportunities for the UK in developing a responsible approach to sourcing critical minerals and the imperative of doing so in order to meet UK (and global) climate objectives.
Aldo also touched on the five recommendations presented in the report, which are intended for consideration by the UK government, and are:
· Acknowledging the importance of creating a responsible critical mineral supply chain to meet the demands of the energy transition;
· Creating an enabling environment for domestic critical mineral projects;
· Incentivising investment in critical mineral projects;
· Developing an ESG multi stakeholder forum to collaboratively move towards alignment on ESG standards in extraction, processing, recycling and the circular economy; and
· Promoting critical minerals career pathways to develop a talent pipeline equipped to deliver the green agenda
The speakers implored politicians to engage with the CMA’s agenda and get others involved in what must be a collective effort; words taken on board by the attendant Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, who made a short speech to pledge her commitment to the CMA’s agenda.
It was a great evening despite the record temperatures, and we were very happy to see faces old and new gathered at this critical juncture to discuss how we can progress collectively and responsibly towards a sustainable future.
You can download the ESG Paper here: https://www.criticalmineral.org/esgpaper
Read the paper here: https://www.criticalmineral.org/esgpaper