The Church of England Pensions Board and the AP Funds' Ethics Council will represent the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in a co-convened independent review of the standard of tailings storage facilities.

The review is launched together with The International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to establish an international standard on the facilities.

The initiative comes as a response to the recent tragedy in Brumadinho, Brazil, where over 200 people died and a further 100 are missing, after Vale S.A’s tailing dam collapsed in January.

The aim is to complete the work by the end of the year, and the stakeholders will be informed by evidence and lessons from earlier mine tailings dam failures.

In a joint statement, the partners said that when a standard is established, it will become an ICMM company member commitment, however, they will also encourage others to join in advocating for it to become more broadly accepted across the industry.

Pension fund AP3 said: “This work is part of the overall commitment that the AP Funds' Ethics Council and the Church of England Pension Board runs, to improve the safety of tailings storage facilities globally.”

As a next step, the co-convenors will jointly appoint an independent chair and a multi-stakeholder advisory panel.

Share Story: