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It's owned and managed by the industry." Young knew that a third-party, indepen- dently audited standard was the Holy Grail. That's where IRMA comes in. In the works since 2006, it tapped human rights organi- zations, environmental NGOs, trade unions, metals buyers, miners and other stakeholders to develop a rigorous standard for judging the responsible operation of a metals mine. (IRMA doesn't include coal and aggregate mines or the oil and gas industry.) The 400 criteria include everything from Indigenous engage- ment to end-of-life reclamation, water treat- ment and employee rights. Mexico's Carrizal Mining, partly owned by Vancouver-based Santacruz Silver, was the first mine audited against the standard. A dozen oth- ers are moving through the yearlong process. Despite its newness—and because of the 14-year development time, which "shows it is stable and well thought out," Young says—the standard is already respected. When research- ers from the University of Ulm in Germany and the State of Sustainability Initiatives, an international project that examines industry standards, independently looked at the differ- ent mining certifications, both found that IRMA was the best. "IRMA comes closest to providing a com- prehensive mining standard covering every societal indicator relevant to mining," the State of Sustainability notes in its report. At least 70 NGOs and trade unions—including the Sierra Club, Human Rights Watch and Indus- tri ALL Global Union, representing 50 million workers—have referenced IRMA's criteria as a benchmark for mine operations. Metals buyers are joining in, too. About 10 years ago, customers started asking Alan Knight, head of corporate responsibility at ArcelorMittal, an iron ore miner and one of the world's largest steel producers, ques- tions about its supply chain. Arcelor bought iron from mines all over the world, including 12 of its own. Given various regulations and transparency laws, Knight didn't know what questions to ask to find out if bad things were happening at any individual operation. Nor could he validate the answers. A third-party certification would do what he couldn't. " IRMA is the best model I've got for gov- ernance of our mines," says Knight from his office in London, England. "If we do it authen- tically, the owners of the company can sleep well at night." ArcelorMittal has committed to buying only IRMA-certified iron by 2025. For their part, investors like the simplicity a standard offers. "Companies that meet the IRMA expectations have met a very high bar," says Jamie Bonham, director of corporate engagement at NEI Investments, an ethical money manager based in Toronto. "Investors would be given assurance that a proj- ect would meet their expectations around envi- ronmental impact, community engagement and Indigenous consent." It costs about $100,000 for a typical mine to go through the IRMA assessment. Coming anywhere close to even its base-level certification demands efforts and investments just in tracking perfor- mance that go well beyond meeting government regulations, which also costs money. Those are dollars that competitors might not be spending. And right now, the payback for going above and beyond isn't direct. "Nobody wants to admit to the ability or desire to pay more for sustainable metals," Young says. He figures it will happen, but probably not for five to 10 years. Until then, many miners don't see the advan- tage. "It's part of the conservatism of the indus- try," Young maintains. "Operating responsibly just for a price premium is an outdated vision of the extractive business. They're not thinking about the opportunity costs." Young has his theories on why Anglo Amer- ican, a global mining titan, joined IRMA and committed to auditing all its mines against the standard. It could be access to market. Like ArcelorMit- tal, BMW and fellow German auto manufacturer Daimler have committed to only buying respon- sible metals. In low-margin, high-volume busi- nesses like car making, gaining even 1-percent market share by being a favoured supplier can be "massive," Young says. It could also be a human resources strategy. In the competition for big brains, being a respon- sible employer, whether it's your own operations or those of your suppliers, helps recruit and retain staff. It's a major motivation for Microsoft Corp.'s involvement in IRMA. B2Gold's Johnson says low employee turnover is an important part of his company's success. "The exploration and mining industry has a small talent pool," he notes. "You operate responsibly, treat them well, and you earn their respect." It's also increasingly important for finding capital. Driven by shareholders and public pres- sure, in recent years, several major investors and banks have announced strategies that avoid investments tied to climate change or human rights offenses. Francis Sullivan, London-based senior adviser for sustainability at HSBC Holdings, one of the world's largest banks, says lenders are increasingly stress-testing companies against their ESG risk. All of those factors played a part, Young says, but when he BCBUSINESS.CA JULY/AUGUST 2021 BCBUSINESS 79 Digging for Decarbonization While mining companies in B.C. and elsewhere prepare to spend more on sustainability, the minerals they produce are helping the world move toward a low-carbon future by Pallavi Rao 70% Global mining and metals executives surveyed by PwC who said they plan to increase investments in environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustain- ability efforts 76% Share who expressed concern about climate change and environmental damage 28% o f B.C.'s $8.1 billion in net mining revenue for 2020 came from copper RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS GENERATING SOLAR, HYDRO, THERMAL AND WIND POWER CAN REQUIRE UP TO Zero-emission electric vehicles require about 3x more copper than their internal combustion counterparts 12x more copper than traditional ones SOURCES: BC MINE 2020: A NEW AGENDA FOR TRANSFORMATION AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH, PWC CANADA; COPPER ALLIANCE; FACTS AND FIGURES 2020, MINING ASSO- CIATION OF CANADA; TECK RESOURCES 34% Metallurgical Coal 11% Zinc 2 key minerals for wind turbines supplied almost 1/2 of B.C. net mining revenue last year