Kumba’s commitment to safety, health and sustainability creates shared value for its stakeholders
11 November, 2020
Following the annual publication of its sustainability report, Kumba is today presenting its sustainability performance for the first time. Themba Mkhwanazi, Kumba’s Chief Executive, said: “Sustainability is at the heart of who we are at Kumba and core to what we do. We recognise that a sustainability mindset, including our non-negotiable commitment to safety and health, makes us better at our business of producing high quality iron ore. It makes us more resilient, agile and efficient. There are many highlights, but I am proud that for the fourth year in a row, we have achieved zero fatalities and have had no major environmental incidents.
“We continue to embed sustainable mining practices into our operations through our Sustainable Mining Plan which is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We launched the plan in 2018 and it is built on three key pillars, aligned with E, S and G:
- E: Healthy environment – recognising that biodiversity, energy and water all lie within our stewardship;
- S: Thriving communities – building communities with better health, education and levels of employment; and
- G: Trusted corporate leader - developing trust, providing ethical value chains and improved accountability.
“Our commitment to sustainability is underpinned by our board structure and governance framework, where sustainability is represented by a number of internal and external engagement forums, including our Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee. Furthermore, our executive’s long-term incentives map directly to Kumba sustainability performance through six metrics namely:
- total recordable case frequency rate;
- level 3 to 5 environmental incidents;
- PM10 dust control;
- financial provision provided for rehabilitation and mine closure;
- attributable free cash flow; and
- attributable return on capital employed
“Kumba has adopted the Anglo American Social Way, a best practice integrated social performance management system which defines our social performance standards and governing framework. This guides our approach to community engagement and development as well as cultural heritage, all of which are essential to our social license to operate and innovate. The Social Way was leveraged to develop Kumba’s Covid-19 WeCare Community response plans, providing much needed support for our host communities. This year, for example, we spent R2.4 billion with more than 300 businesses in our host communities, directly and positively impacting the lives of well over 16 000 people.”
Climate change is one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world. Kumba’s environmental management efforts are focused on moving the business towards operating carbon neutral and less water intensive mines.
- Kumba has a critical role to play in the transition to a low carbon world, both by becoming carbon neutral at our operations and by providing high-quality iron ore that allows customers to reduce their carbon emissions in the process of steel production.
- We are targeting a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 30% improvement in energy intensity against our 2016 baseline by 2030. Together with the broader Anglo American group, we are developing solar renewable energy generation and investigating green hydrogen as a renewable energy source for mining activities.
- Kumba revised its water strategy during 2020 and we are targeting a more than 14% reduction in water usage by 2025. Water efficiency projects such as the reduction of water usage in dust suppression are being implemented.
- Kumba’s integrated approach to managing social and climate change risks, recognises the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration for effective risk management through integrated water, energy and carbon management.
“To successfully deliver on our purpose to re-imagine mining to improve people's lives, we need to change the way we mine. We need to earn our social license to innovate. Our FutureSmart Mining™ approach which includes our Sustainable Mining Plan, is focused on technology, digitisation and sustainability working to ensure safer, more efficient and precise mining with an optimised footprint.
“We are continually improving our business model using new technology and strategies that create a safer, greener and sustainably profitable business. This provides more control over our destiny such that we can meet all of our sustainability commitments and create value for all of our stakeholders.”
Following Kumba’s Sustainability Performance presentation, a full recording will be available at the link below https://www.angloamericankumba.com/investors/investor-presentations/2020
Centurion
11 November 2020
Sponsor
RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)