Sustainable Development

“Oversight and ultimate responsibility for Xstrata's Sustainable Development Policy and Framework rests with our Board.” Ian Strachan, Non-Executive Director, and Chairman of the Health, Safety, Environment and Community Committee.

Our approach

We believe operating responsibly and creating shared value for society is an essential part of our Mission and vital for our success. Oversight and ultimate responsibility for our Sustainable Development Policy and Framework rests with our Board.

The Board and our Executive Committee set the business strategy, policy and performance standards for Sustainable Development. Progress towards achieving these targets is monitored by our Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) Committee which is chaired by Ian Strachan, an independent, non-executive director. For more details on this committee and its terms of reference please visit our Board Committees page, and our Sustainability section.

At each meeting, the Board HSEC Committee receives quarterly progress reports on key performance indicators, critical and high potential risk incidents, and assurance programme results amongst other information. At each meeting, one of the Chief Executives of our five commodity businesses presents a detailed review of sustainability strategy, risks and performance. The members of the HSEC committee also monitor material social, environmental and ethical issues and associated performance metrics and benchmark our performance against other mining and extractive industry companies. Members of the Committee also regularly visit our operations to see first-hand how our Sustainable Development initiatives are put into action.

Our auditing and assurance processes ensure that our Business Principles and Group Sustainable Development Policy and Standards are being upheld at each operation and project. Every site undergoes a third party audit at least once every three years. This regular check also helps to identify examples of best practice within our operations, which are shared across the organisation to improve our performance.

To ensure we are at the forefront of Sustainable Development, our Board also consults with external experts and receives independent briefings on social, ethical and environmental issues.

Remuneration

We have linked remuneration to performance at every level of the organisation, including sustainability performance, operational performance and financial performance.

Read more in our Sustainability section.

Our Sustainable Development Framework

Our Sustainable Development Framework provides guidance on how we implement, review and improve our management of sustainability across the organisation. It is designed to make sure that every operation and project we manage achieves international and leading practice standards. Our SD Framework comprises:

Our Sustainable Development Policy and Sustainable Development Standards, coupled with a rigorous assurance process
Integrating sustainability risk management into our broader enterprise risk management process
A Sustainable Development strategy and planning process that is integrated from project to group level with our operational and business strategy and planning process

Our Sustainable Development Framework applies across all commodity businesses. Our General Manager, Sustainability, reports directly to our Chief Executive Officer and is responsible for implementing and updating our SD Framework.

In managing Sustainable Development we adhere to a number of international standards including:

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) sustainable principles and guidelines
The UN Global Compact
UN Declaration of Human Rights
Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights
ISO 31000, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 1800
ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

Our internal and external auditing and assurance processes ensure that our Business Principles and Group Sustainable Policy and Standards are being upheld at each operation and project.