Pope Francis has called for “the great extractive industries – mining, oil, forestry, real estate, agribusiness – to stop destroying forests, wetlands and mountains, to stop polluting rivers and seas, to stop poisoning food and people.” Investors such as Mercy Investment Services actively engage mining companies on their impact on people and planet, and have taken an active role in developing standards to hold companies accountable for their actions.
- The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is developing a new mining sector standard that provides a reporting method concerning company impacts such as intensive water use, ecosystem disruption, and air and soil pollution. Pat Zerega, senior director of shareholder advocacy for Mercy Investment Services, was named to the GRI Mining Standard Working Group that will help develop these standards. Pat brings the faith-based investor perspective and will incorporate her experience and conversations with people affected by mining in Peru and other countries to ensure that the standards reflect the concerns of those most impacted.
- Following the 2019 Brumadinho disaster, Mercy played an active role in the development of a repository that includes data on more than 1,800 tailings dams from more than 100 companies. Concerned investors’ scope is evolving beyond data capture into defining leading practices for the industry and development of Agenda 2030, a program to focus on emerging topics of deep sea mining, automation, critical minerals and child labor.
Mercy Investment Services will continue to be a voice for those impacted by mining operations as we help develop the mining standards and use the data to push companies toward change.