How capital is deployed in the minerals sector determines how mining drives sustainable development. Through our Responsible Investment team, we bring our unique perspective to capital mobilisation, rooted in decades of work with affected rightsholders and in-depth experience across the entire minerals value chain, from extraction to manufacturing and end-of-life.. This means we understand, in practical terms, how investment and financing decisions play out for financial institutions as well as the people and environments connected to a mineral opportunity.
We work with foundations, philanthropic and impact funds, and early-stage capital providers to conduct due diligence on potential investments, risk check funding rounds and joint ventures, and identify innovative projects for funding or technical support. We also work with commercial banks, asset managers, ESG data providers and development finance actors to help them understand ESG issues and implement due diligence, in particular by exercising their leverage with clients and investees and examining the strength of their existing safeguards.
Types of support we provide to clients in this service area include:
- Due diligence on potential investments, funding rounds and joint ventures, including supply chain human rights and environmental risk assessments
- Identification of priority investments and development of pipelines of impact investment opportunities in critical minerals
- Analysis and recommendations to strengthen institutional ESG practices, including human rights and environmental due diligence policies, procedures and practices
- Analysis, capacity building and strategic planning to build just transition programmes within financial institutions
- Support to develop and deliver human rights due diligence disclosures, acting as expert advisor and technical reviewer
- Facilitation of multi-stakeholder processes and authoring of guidance documents to develop shared approaches to human rights risk assessment
- Engagement with standard-setting bodies, industry initiatives and intergovernmental forums on industry-wide risk assessment and mitigation
- In-person, online and on-demand training for clients, ranging from Board-level sessions to supplier-facing tools
Selected examples of our engagements
Investment as a lever to catalyse a sustainable energy transition
- By mapping and analysing financial flows, frictions, and safeguards for critical raw materials in the European market, we are supporting a European climate foundation in identifying grant-making and advocacy opportunities to increase the scale of responsibly sourced CRMs in Europe.
- We identified priority investments to build a secure and resilient supply of transition minerals for the ClimateWorks Foundation. We developed a pipeline of critical minerals-related impact investment opportunities for a large US-based foundation.
- To support a development bank's investments in electric vehicles, we conducted analyses of cobalt-containing battery supply chains, mapping their actors, geographies and salient human rights and environmental issues, and benchmarked suppliers' risk management systems against the OECD Guidelines and UN Guiding Principles. We also worked with the bank to consider their own safeguards applications and leverage in response to identified risks.
- To inform an investment round in steel manufacturing, we conducted a risk assessment of the manufacturer's impacts on local communities. We supported the investment fund client in engaging with its investee to manage these risks.
- In preparing for a potential joint venture in aluminium production, we assessed the ESG risk management systems of potential partners. We considered the equity fund client’s ability to influence partners' future performance on environmental and human rights issues.
- As part of the EU-funded AfricaMaVal consortium, we identified joint Africa-EU investment opportunities for the responsible sourcing of critical mineral resources that deliver long-term benefits for minerals producers as well as downstream users.
Strong systems for safeguards and due diligence
- We supported ING Bank with several human rights due diligence disclosures and in its journey to integrate Just Transition concepts more systematically across its policies, procedures, and practices.
- We supported ABN AMRO Bank on several human rights due diligence disclosures, supported the finalisation and launch of their human rights remedy mechanism, and moderated several public multi-stakeholder events on just transition and access to remedy.
- Working with a group of Dutch financial institutions, including ABN AMRO Bank, ING Bank, Robeco, Morningstar-Sustainalytics and APG, we developed and facilitated an 18-month process to examine how financial institutions can consider civic space restrictions in their human rights risk assessments in client and investee relationships. We authored a final report summarising findings and recommendations. Read it here
- To support clients and investees of a European development finance institution, we authored guidance on supply chain human rights and environmental due diligence, aligned to the OECD Guidelines, IFC Performance Standards and UN Guiding Principles.
