Evaluating the progress and identifying future improvement areas of mining's contribution to the sustainable development goals (SDGs)

Abstract

The intersection of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations in the mining sector is underexplored. This review aims to inform policymakers about the mining sector's experience and challenges in implementing SDGs and to encourage further discussions on the evolution of SDGs beyond 2030. It investigates how the mining sector adopts and integrates the SDGs framework into its current practices and matches the findings with an ESG lens. Firstly, we examine the mining sector's progress in achieving these goals based on refined literature. Secondly, we identify areas for improvement guided by the SDGs. Our results show that environmental progress has been made, particularly in renewable energy utilization and efficient water resources management. From a social and governance lens, higher progress has been observed in employment, inclusion, and policy implementation compared to moderate progress in other areas, such as gender equality, community engagement, and investment in local communities. Our study identifies three critical areas that must be prioritized by 2030: the intentional alignment of SDGs into mining operations, greater transparent disclosure of ESG data to all stakeholders, particularly mining communities, and protection of ecologically and culturally sensitive zones. Without them, ESG initiatives will remain fragmented and insufficient.