Sustainability / Environment

Environment

We are committed to identifying, reducing and eliminating where possible all the significant impacts of our operations on the environment.

We recognise the significant challenges and opportunities posed by the need to limit the environmental impacts associated with our operations and resulting from the use of Xstrata products by customers. Our Sustainable Development Policy sets out our commitment to identify, reduce and eliminate where possible all the significant impacts of our operations on the environment.

Xstrata aims to preserve or restore the long-term health, function and viability of the natural environments affected by its operations. This means that, while we are operating and after we have closed a site, environments should be able to sustain biodiversity, landscape functions and the needs of local communities and in the long term should be able to return to as close to their original state as possible.

Our key environmental impacts relate to greenhouse gas emissions, use of scarce natural resources, the effect of land use change on biodiversity and landscape functions, waste and tailings management, emissions to water and air, and rehabilitation and management of closed sites, as well as product responsibility issues.

We are committed to minimising these impacts throughout the life of the operation and rehabilitating land once operations have ceased. Our priorities are to use resources such as energy and water efficiently, minimise our impacts on biodiversity and landscape functions, and reduce waste and emissions including greenhouse gases.

We have systems in place to ensure all Xstrata operations reach the high environmental standards we demand and that are expected by governments, industry bodies and other organisations. As part of our sustainability assurance programme, we audit sites to ensure they comply with these standards.

Xstrata recognises the importance of whole-lifecycle product stewardship. We work to minimise the environmental impacts of processing our products and to raise our customers’ awareness about responsible use and disposal. We support research into technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the use of coal as an energy source.

Our key environmental challenges:

Climate change and energy	Making mining and metallurgical operations more energy efficient Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our contribution to climate change Sourcing a reliable, affordable energy supply Contributing to the development of low emissions technologies to significantly reduce the carbon emissions from using coal as an energy source
Water	Reducing our reliance on fresh water Managing potential conflicts with communities and other industries in water-scarce regions Minimising harmful discharges to water and impacts on the quality of local water sources
Biodiversity and landscape functions	Minimising the impacts of mining on natural ecosystems Contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and avoiding the loss of any IUCN Red List species Rehabilitating sites once operations have ceased
Waste and emissions	Minimising waste and harmful emissions to air and land Developing leading practice tailings and waste rock management Reducing waste and the toxicity of our waste material
Product stewardship	Working with our customers to reduce emissions from burning coal Promoting safe use and disposal of our products Contributing to prolonging the lifecycle of metals through our Xstrata Recycling business

Environmental management

Xstrata operations manage environmental risks and impacts through a Group-wide risk management framework that identifies risks, prioritises actions, implements mitigation measures and tracks progress.

We expect each of our sites to be fully resourced to a level that is appropriate for managing the nature and scale of their environmental risks and issues. Often, we increase the number of environmental professionals at newly acquired sites to ensure there is sufficient capacity.

Our environmental management system is aligned with ISO 14001 and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Sustainable Development Principles. We audit site-level compliance with our environmental standards as part of the Sustainable Development Assurance Programme. We also contract external auditors to assess specific environmental risks such as tailings dams, air and water emissions, and closed sites. We use assurance results to drive improvements in our environmental management systems and overall environmental performance.

We do not mandate that sites shall be third-party ISO 14001 certified and do not use external certification as an indicator of environmental performance because it does not provide the level of assurance required by our Board and executive management team. However, every site is required to maintain an environmental management system which is compliant with ISO 14001. Our commodity businesses determine autonomously whether third-party ISO 14001 certification would provide commercial or other benefits, for example, if it is especially important to a particular stakeholder group.

We raise employees’ awareness about environmental issues across the Group through environmental awareness and risk management training programmes, and educate relevant personnel about the environmental risks and opportunities specific to their sites. We regularly bring in environmental experts to provide specialist advice.

Last Modified on July 21 2009, 14:02:24 PST

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