Innovation opportunities through circular economy in mining – proactive handling of ESG factors and sustainability-oriented regulation

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-318-4_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Circular economy; Circular transition factors; Mining and metals; Circular business models; ESG integration

Abstract

Mining companies provide the required materials for the energy transition and green technologies. The question which emissions and waste are generated to produce these technologies attracts growing interest throughout the society. Investors, governments, customers, and other stakeholders have recognized that the mining and metals industry is the key to many sustainability issues. One of the greatest challenges for miners - short- to midterm - lies in increasing scrutiny, complex requirements from investors (Environmental, Social and Governance criteria, ESG) and stringent regulation. Consequently, two-third of the world’s largest mining companies have defined net-zero or carbon neutrality goals. However, which paths must miners take to achieve these ambitious goals? How can they overcome the reactive phase and integrate sustainability into their core activities? Sustainable business model innovation is considered the prime technique for miners to outperform in this context. Circular business models belong to the most promising approaches beyond them. Based on a literature review, the paper points out potential circular strategies along the mine’s life cycle and discusses drivers and barriers towards a circular transition of the sector. It aims to provide a solid information basis and starting point for sustainability strategists in mining.

Copyright

© 2023 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Stefanie Krause
AU  - Jürgen Kretschmann
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/12/31
TI  - Innovation opportunities through circular economy in mining – proactive handling of ESG factors and sustainability-oriented regulation
BT  - Proceedings of the second International Conference on Resources and Technology (RESAT 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 7
EP  - 26
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-318-4_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-318-4_2
ID  - Krause2023
ER  -