Gold Fields

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy area.

Key areas and species
The company has a management plan for locations within its own operations adjacent to areas important for biodiversity, and it discloses the percentage of land, fresh water and sea use in such locations.

Resource exploitation and circularity
Gold Fields discloses its inputs, including its material footprint.

Water
The company has a target to reduce water withdrawal in its own operations by 45% by 2030 and reports progress against the target. Gold Fields has a commitment to respect local traditions and rights, which include the right to lands and water. It discloses its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
The company reports some activities to reduce plastic use and waste in its own operations, mainly plastic recycling.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company demonstrates that its human rights risks and impacts identification process includes a focus on the health of local communities.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Gold Fields discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy. The company discloses some targets. However, these do not cover key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain. The company reports consistently on progress against all its targets. No evidence was found that Gold Fields links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Lobbying
The company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates. However, it does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment
Gold Fields has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

Key areas and species
The company discloses the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity within its own operations. It does not disclose the locations of its suppliers that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity. Gold Fields does not disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to its own locations. Nor does it disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to the locations of its suppliers. Finally, the company does not disclose the status according to national and international conservation lists of species identified in its own locations.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. Gold Fields has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets. The company is not committed to restoring ecosystems. It also does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance, nor does it disclose efforts to improve soil health.

Water
The company demonstrates it is reducing water withdrawal in its own operations. It reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas, but it does not engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. It does not disclose relevant information related to water quality in its operations.

Solid and air pollution
Gold Fields is not reducing the production of hazardous waste, although it is reducing plastic use and waste in its own operations, specifically by recycling. While the company discloses the amount of plastic waste generated, it does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. The company reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants. However, it does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

GHG emissions
Gold Fields discloses greenhouse gas emissions across all three scopes, which have increased. While the company has a time-bound reduction target for scope 1 and 2 emissions, it does not report progress against the target. Moreover, the target is not aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. The company does not disclose a time-bound reduction target for its scope 3 emissions or report progress against the target and. There is also no evidence its scope 3 emissions reduction target is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of IAS in its own operations.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Gold Fields is not committed to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The company does not track its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities. It is also not committed to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not disclose its processes for identifying and recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, nor does it describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. Gold Fields does not disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights, as set out in the relevant part(s) of the VGGTs or the IFC Performance Standards. It also does not require its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rightsholders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

Gold Fields describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. The company also describes the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in its business relationships. It describes its process(es) for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. In addition, Gold Fields provides a case study describing how it has acted on a salient human rights risk issue. While it discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with generally on sustainability issues, it is not clear if these stakeholders are those whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. The company engages with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities.

The company has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of its own workers and expecting its suppliers to do the same. However, there is room for improvement in this area. Gold Fields has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. The company also has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. It has an opportunity to disclose the coverage of collective bargaining agreements. Finally, the company has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in relation to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Gold Fields discloses a global tax strategy approved by its highest governance body. There is no evidence that the company describes the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. However, the company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. There is no evidence that the company has a publicly available policy statement or policy setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach, but it does specify that it does not make political contributions.