Public Talks

What, why and how of the term Just Transition: Conceptual review, importance,
challenges, and opportunities. Banerjee presentation slides. Video recording.

Countries worldwide are increasingly implementing policies to promote low carbon-emitting consumption and production processes. These policies upend the status quo in most sectors like mining, energy production, waste recycling, transportation, fashion, and other industries emitting carbon. As a result, new winners and losers are being created as societal groups differ in how they benefit or lose from the transition to a low-carbon future. The term Just Transition is often used in academic and policy domains to identify, account and address the inequalities in the distribution of pains and gains within society while moving away from fossil fuels. However, there is a lack of clarity and general awareness of what the term Just Transition stands for, why it is critical, and how it can be achieved. This lecture will introduce the concept of Just Transition and discuss in detail its criticality in the current context and what challenges need to be addressed to achieve a whole-of-society Just Transition to a low carbon future.

Monday 4^th of July

13.15 – 14.00

Setting the scene: Mining, sustainable development and transitions to meet global challenges. Mudd presentation slides. Video recording.

Mining is an important industrial sector, providing the resources and energy we need for the modern world – yet it can come at significant social, environmental and economic risk. The world is currently working hard towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as global action on climate change. These broad themes present both fundamental challenges and opportunities for mining – but how do we frame these? What are the key trends driving the demand and supply for the variety of metals and minerals in the modern world? Where do we need to get to? How does mining address the need for strong environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) performance, especially in the developing world? How do ESG factors already constrain mining and how much will they continue to affect existing mines and the potential development of new mines? How will the policy drive towards a more circular economy affect the need for mining? This presentation will delve into all of these issues and more! Whilst it obviously cannot deliver comprehensive answers, the meta-view should provide a compelling basis to understand and think about mining’s role in the modern world to help to contribute addressing fundamental needs such as the SDGs and climate change.

Monday 4^th of July

16.15 – 17.00

Assessing sustainability in mine closure and repurposing: A case study from Colorado,
USA. Smith presentation slides. Video recording.

Responsible mine closure and repurposing are key to contributing to sustainable development by ensuring successful environmental rehabilitation and reducing socioeconomic risks. However, mine closure has primarily focused on remediation and rehabilitation of mined lands with limited consideration of stakeholder perspectives and the broader social, economic, and cultural impacts of closure. In this talk, we propose a method for using stakeholder input to evaluate and compare three different repurposing alternatives for the tailings dam area of a mine in the state of Colorado, USA that is expected to close in the next twenty years. By using multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT), we show that it is possible to determine which alternative better reflects stakeholder preferences and results in the most sustainable outcome. Integrating stakeholder views into mine closure design and repurposing can lead to more responsible mine closure that is unique to a particular setting and stakeholder needs.

Tuesday 5^th of July

09.00 – 09.45

A view from the front of the circular economy. Wall presentation slides. Video recording.

When people say ‘Circular Economy’, the term is often taken to mean ‘recycling’ and, indeed, there are many companies working on innovative ways to collect and recycle end of life waste. But the circular economy is much more than end-of-life materials; it starts at the beginning. I would like to talk to you about the ‘view from the front’, the initial production of metals and minerals and how circular economy principles can inform extraction as well as ensure good stewardship of materials. Circular economy thinking can start from the very first steps of exploration of a resource. Are there different types of ore deposit, or new technologies that could design out waste and pollution? Once in the exploration stages, it is important to consider the whole resource, with its potential by- and co-products not just the main metals of interest. Applying techniques such as life cycle assessment at the design stages of a mine can help optimise the configuration to minimise negative environmental impacts. This approach leads to two views of the sustainability of metals extraction. The first is the one usually considered in mining, and relates to creating sustainable development for the stakeholders related to a mine site. The minerals in the ground are exchanged for increases in human and infrastructure capital. The second relates to the metals themselves, which are inherently super sustainable materials that can last for ever if there is good materials stewardship right from the beginning and then on into value chain for their the use and potentially infinite re-use.

Tuesday 5^th of July

13.15 – 14.00

Carbon Neutrality, Resources, Prosperity and other Musings. Simon presentation slides. Video recording.

Wednesday 6th of July

09.00 – 09.45

Strengthening collaborative action for sustainable artisanal and small-scale mining in developing countries. Muthuri presentation slides. Video recording.

The artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in sub-Saharan Africa contribute significantly to the global production of metals and mineral resources. A 2017 report of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development estimated that the ASM produces a significant share of global supply of diamonds (20%), sapphires (80%), gold (20%), tantalum (26%) and tin (25%). The ASM sector is recognised as one of the most indispensable rural economic activities in resource-rich countries that contribute to employment creation, income generation and poverty reduction. Despite the potential for ASM to contribute to the socio-economic development of the African continent, the sector’s economic importance is often disregarded in regulatory and policymaking processes because of its informality. Using a case study of gemstone mining in Taita Taveta County in Kenya, we share the lived experiences of disenfranchised mining stakeholders’ and their efforts towards active participation in the governance of natural resources in the county. We discuss the process of building strong collaboration networks and platforms that enable mining stakeholders to re-imagine and co-create a shared sustainable ASM future.

Wednesday 6th of July

12.30 – 13.15

Electric vehicles and battery raw materials: why a circular economy is crucial. Ahuja presentation slides. Video recording.

Green technology products such as electric vehicles and wind turbines are crucial for achieving climate-change targets. However, manufacture of these products will also require rapidly increasing quantities of critical technology metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Thus green technologies will, alongside environmental benefits, also bring environmental challenges such as increased mining for critical minerals. This lecture will use the example of electric vehicle batteries to illustrate the challenges of green technology innovations. It will discuss why effective policies and legal frameworks are essential to make sure that we maximise net benefits from the electric vehicle (EV) transition, while minimising harms. Discovery of lithium in parts of the UK and rising demand for lithium-ion batteries has led to renewed interest in a UK mining industry, for example in places such as Cornwall. However, UK mining regulations are outdated and must be revaluated if we want to harness this geological potential. Responsible mining regulations are necessary, but this alone will not be enough. Strong circular economy policies are also needed to manage critical materials demand, extract maximum value and ensure that these valuable minerals are recycled and returned to the supply chain at the end of life.

Thurday 7th of July

09.00 – 09.450

Artisanal mining: A closer look at its relevance towards sustainable development of rural communities. Williams presentation slides. Video recording.

Although artisanal mining is the main source of livelihood for residents, in rural communities especially in developing countries, many consider it to be a menace in terms of its potential to cause adverse health impacts and environmental degradation. The benefits obtained from artisanal mining are often utilized to support basic daily living expenses such as daily feeding, education, and health, including assistance to vulnerable people in these communities; as compared to revenue from small-scale and large-scale operations which are largely repatriated. However, a comparison of the environmental and social performances of small-scale and large-scale mining companies operating within the same geographical territories shows very low levels of compliance to existing regulations and implementation of measures outlined in regulatory instruments submitted as part of the terms and conditions of their mining operations. As such, there is no justification for policy reviews involving the elimination of artisanal mining activities on the basis of their environmental performance. What measures should we recommend in other to improve the occupational safety and environmental degradation practices associated with artisanal mining? How can formalization of the sector help to enhance the positive social benefits that artisanal mining provides to these rural communities whilst also contributing towards elimination of the worst practices leading to widespread environmental degradation and responsible waste management?

Thursday 7^th of July

09.45 – 10.30

Behaviour change for resource conservation. Poortinga presentation slides. Video recording.

The behavioural choices we make and the way we live as individuals -and as societies at large- have a profound impact on our planet. Almost everything we do involves materials and energy that have been extracted, processed, and transported over large distances, which contributes to climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation. Behaviour change therefore has at least some role to play in resource conservation and climate mitigation. This presentation will give an overview of behaviour and behaviour change theories from psychology, as well as possible interventions to change behaviour for environmental purposes. It will compare downstream interventions that aim to influence individual decision-making directly (for example, through information provision) and upstream interventions that change the context in which decisions are being made (for example, by providing safe cycling infrastructure). The presentation will conclude that behaviour change can make an important contribution to resource conservation and climate mitigation, but that more system-wide changes are needed to attain environmental sustainability.

Thursday 7^th of July

13.15 – 14.00

Resources in a world of change and uncertainty. John Thompson slides. Video recording.

Attempting to understand the future is challenging, particularly for the management of natural resources. Climate change, the energy transition, new technologies, national-global politics, and societal expectations are all changing with unpredictable and volatile implications for resources – e.g., demand, prices, supply chains, access, permitting, community opposition. It can take 10-30 years to find, evaluate, permit and build a new mine and therefore all involved in this process (companies, governments, NGOs, customers and communities) need to have long term perspectives.
Predictions or forecasts for the future are typically based on current trends – extrapolating on-going change. Clearly, this approach is unreliable. If we go back 30 years, very few of the major changes that we see now were accurately predicted. The alternative is look at a range of scenarios for a future state 25-30 years from now. Scenarios provide a way to plan for a range of outcomes, and a means to backcast – to design ways to start moving now towards desirable elements while building strategies to mitigate the most undesirable.

Three very different scenarios will be described. All are unlikely but they are designed to provoke questions and discussion:
1. Follow the trends – progressive improvement based on business as usual
2. The end of mining – a disaster movie with a glimmer of hope
3. A new idealistic business – a holistic view of materials in a circular economy

Friday 8^th of July

09.00 – 09.45