As we enter 2025, the mining industry grapples with a rapidly evolving and polarizing environmental, social and governance (ESG) landscape shaped by regulatory shifts, geopolitical pressures, technological advancements and societal expectations.
The critical minerals race is intensifying, while scrutiny grows over environmental and rights impacts. Geopolitical tension, ideological polarization and resource nationalism will increasingly affect the sector worldwide.
Meanwhile, the politicized ‘anti-ESG’ countercurrent is already impeding sustainability efforts. Pro- and anti-ESG forces will continue to frame how operators globally approach ESG risks and impacts in the year ahead.
This year will bring new challenges and opportunities for miners as they navigate this ESG landscape. While the term ESG may wane, the underpinning efforts to tackle material risks, opportunities and impacts will endure. Below are the top 10 ESG trends we expect to define the sector this year.
Extreme weather events—wildfires, cyclones, flooding, and heatwaves in countless regions—continue to expose mining infrastructure to climate risks. A KPMG survey found that 92% of Canadian businesses expect a climate-related hit in the year, with over half already suffering financial losses.
Last year saw the world’s first year-long breach of 1.5°C, cementing climate resilience planning as increasingly integral to operational continuity. As more companies develop credible science-based net-zero transition plans, 2025 will likely see operators focus on climate adaptation, modeling and quantifying climate risks and impacts, and fortifying assets to anticipate disruptions.
Nature underpins more than half (US$44 trillion) of global GDP and nature loss is accelerating. Yet economic systems and financial modelling systematically undervalue nature.
Although waste and water remain significant themes, many institutional investors and regulators are broadening their focus to the full scope of this nature risk (and interconnected climate and social risk).
This year will see inaugural company disclosures under European Union Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Amsterdam-based Global Reporting Initiative’s 101 Biodiversity. As well, the London-based Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’recommendations address nature-related risks, opportunities, dependencies and impacts.
Operators will need to prioritize efforts to address these risks. Meanwhile, the London-based International Council on Mining and Metals’(ICMM) 2024 nature-positive commitment foreshadows an uptick in nature-positive approaches.
Value chain impacts are now broadly recognized as core to company sustainability performance and a key risk source for organizational resilience. Stakeholder scrutiny of company value chain accountability is intensifying this year, including through legislation in multiple jurisdictions.
The regulatory spotlight is on due diligence, disclosure and accountability for emissions, modern slavery, forced labour, rights of Indigenous Peoples, and more. Meanwhile, many companies are struggling to map their value chains, facing persistent data gaps and transparency issues. This year may see further vertical integration and other efforts to improve traceability and ESG risk management, including through blockchain technologies.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is primed to transform mining ESG practices in 2025, from operational efficiency to ESG due diligence, data collection and analysis, and reporting. Commercialized AI tools can facilitate predictive maintenance, assess water risk, and monitor real-time impacts.
It canstreamline Scope 3 (indirect greenhouse gas emissions not controlled by the company) carbon accounting, detect data anomalies, and address an array of investor demands for transparency. Simultaneously, expanded AI use is already elevating concerns over AI’s immense energy intensity and inherent biases.
In line with Chicago-based law firm Baker Mckenzie’s 2024 forecast, which named ESG as mining’s top dispute risk, the surge in ESG-related lawsuits will continue in 2025 with in-house legal teams’ responsibilities sprawling.
Companies face increasingly sophisticated legal action, both pro- and anti-ESG, including exposure to novel legal theories such as "nature rights," and new tools to hold executives and directors liable. Robust ESG due diligence, accurate disclosure and proactive engagement can help companies mitigate these emerging legal risks and maintain their social license to operate.
Regulators worldwide are using stricter anti-greenwashing rules to discourage companies from making false or misleading ESG statements, including in the EU, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Some companies are reducing their disclosure ambitions to manage associated risk. However, as mandatory climate reporting regimes roll out globally and “green” talent seeks aligned employers, greenhushing may not be desirable.
Third-party ESG data assurance will become a greater priority (with the adoption of the new International Standard on Sustainability Assurance 5000), even for companies not directly subject to regulatory obligations like the EU CSRD. ESG and sustainability literacy, especially among chief financial officerss, legal counsel, and boards, will also be key to ensuring effective disclosure oversight.
In 2025, expect first reports under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which have set the global standard for capital markets ESG reporting. At least 20 countries, representing over half of global GDP, have already committed to adopting the IFRS S1 and S2 standards.
Additionally, the first of thousands of companies will begin reporting under the rigorous EU CSRD, requiring substantial data collection and internal controls. Meanwhile, the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative will inch closer to finalizing an industry-wide framework applicable to any facility, anywhere in the world.
The new standard will consolidate disparate mining performance and reporting requirements into a unified approach. Though risking some loss of local nuance and more ambitious expectations, it will enhance comparability and transparency. Widespread adoption may ultimately simplify compliance, while potentially improving access to capital markets.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts face a growing backlash in 2025 amid political polarization. Many U.S.-based companies across industries are scaling back DEI commitments and programs, following activist and political pressures and Supreme Court signals.
Yet many companies continue (key elements of) their existing efforts, to manage rights and talent pipeline risks. In mining, rampant sexual harassment and assault (driving class-action lawsuits) and the need for local, skilled and diverse talent continues to position DEI as a strategic imperative for the sector. Companies must navigate political sensitivities while fostering safe and inclusive workplaces that attract and retain the workforce they need.
August 2025 will mark ICMM’s voluntary deadline for members to ensure all facilities conform with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM). Tailings management, in general, remains under intense scrutiny, driving companies of all sorts to improve their practices to meet growing expectations.
Investor-led initiatives like the Church of England’s Mining 2030 in particular keep the pressure on. Companies must balance heavy compliance costs with safety and sustainability risks to avoid operational and stakeholder risks and possible reputational damage and stakeholder activism in 2025, especially as industry leaders achieve full GISTM conformance.
In the midst of polarized debates, anti-ESG rhetoric may seem to suggest that ESG-related practices are declining. Reports of high-profile departures from the Climate Action 100+ initiative and Net Zero Banking Alliance appear, at first glance, to support this. However, global green finance (and green loans and bonds in particular) continues to grow at an unprecedented pace.
While some investors, regulators, and companies may dispense with ESG terminology, risk-based sustainability practices—the foundation of ESG—remain at the core of robust investor and corporate strategy alike.
And many operators will need to navigate stark jurisdictional differences with tailored region-specific strategies. While the EU advances rigorous corporate sustainability standards, the anti-ESG backlash in the U.S. will accelerate under the Trump administration, with more companies abandoning public ESG pledges, regardless of internal strategy.
The mining industry’s ability to navigate these trends will be critical for our industry’s resilience and competitiveness. Companies must proactively address the relevant sustainability challenges in their operating context and value chains.
They can usetechnological innovation, stakeholder collaboration and tailored strategies. And theywill not only mitigate a range of financial, market, legal, and social risks, but also unlock new opportunities for sustainable growth and access to capital, in an increasingly complex and divided global landscape.
Elizabeth Freele and Rachel Dekker are co-founders of Zurich-based mining sustainability consultancy Sympact and online learning platform the Responsible Mining Academy.
January 20, 2025
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