On 11 April, the Graduate Institute and the Responsible Mining Foundation organised an event to mark the launch of the Responsible Mining Index, which assesses the policies and practices of 30 large-scale mining companies, revealing how well they are performing on economic development, environmental, social and governance issues.

“Mining is strategic for a whole range of resource-rich developing countries”, said Graduate Institute professor Gilles Carbonnier, who is leading a r4d.ch research project on improving natural resource governance. “It’s a sector that can greatly contribute to the emergence of a green economy and to sustainable development, but it can also contribute to environmental degradation, social conflicts and human rights violations. The Responsible Mining Index provides an incentive for continuous improvement, highlighting where progress is needed and what best practice looks like.”

Responsible Mining Foundation CEO Hélène Piaget said the Index revealed that while many companies have introduced responsible mining policies on issues such as corruption and CO2 emissions, much progress remains in areas including monitoring how mining affects children and protecting female workers from harassment and sexual exploitation.

You can watch a video of the event below.