Newmont

Stakeholder engagement
Newmont discloses how often and through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups on topics that cover nature, including biodiversity, health and safety as well as social issues. In particular, the company makes engagement part of its human rights due diligence, focusing on the risk from its activities and business relationships . In addition, Newmont provides an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities.

Lobbying
Newmont discloses a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. Specifically, it investigates whether an association has a public position on climate that supports the objectives of the Paris Agreement and whether an association has engaged in anti-climate legislation, lobbying or campaigns in the last 12 months.

Key areas and species
Newmont has a management plan for each site as well as several partnerships adjacent to areas important for biodiversity, including a list linked to the IUCN.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Newmont is committed to responsibly managing its impacts on the environment, through sensible decommissioning programmes and ecosystem rehabilitation. The company discloses details and outcomes of these ecosystem restoration projects.

Resource exploitation and circularity
Newmont discloses its significant material consumption as well as its material footprint via a table outlining the different resources that each location consumes. It also discloses its disposal process, which includes reuse and recycling initiatives and programmes.

Water
Newmont commits to respecting the right to water. This includes disclosing its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for specifically identified risks to the right to water and sanitation. For example, the Canal Tual project where a water availability study and water use plans were implemented.

Solid and air pollution
Newmont discloses a comprehensive regional table detailing the proportion of hazardous waste treated to reduce pollution compared to total waste. The table highlights how much of the hazardous waste is diverted from disposal for reuse, recycle and recovery as well as disposal processes such as incineration, deep well and landfill.

Invasive species
Newmont identifies the activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive species in its own operations, establishing a biodiversity baseline before any projects are conducted so as to document the relevant details of environmental transformation.

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

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
Newmont is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights, in line with ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The company also discloses its processes for identifying and recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, and it describes how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent, including giving them the appropriate time to work through traditional decision-making processes.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
Newmont 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. However, it does not disclose group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain. While the company reports consistently on progress against all its targets, no evidence was found that it links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company also does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Lobbying
Newmont discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates. However, it does not report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment
While Newmont assesses the impact of each of its sites in its own operations, it does not assess the impact of its activities on nature at company level. The company does not disclose any assessment of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, in its supply chain or in its own operations. Neither does it disclose any assessment of dependencies on nature of its upstream business relationships.

Key areas and species
Newmont discloses the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity in its own operations. However, it does not disclose the locations of its suppliers that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity. While the company discloses the status according to national and international conservation lists of species identified in its own locations, it does not disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to its own locations and to the locations of its suppliers.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Newmont has a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion and discloses some activities to minimise ecosystem conversion. However, it does not disclose a commitment to ensure zero conversion. While the company discloses it will work to combat deforestation and forest degradation through its objective to achieve no net loss, no further evidence was found that the company is working towards achieving conversion-free supply chains. The company also does not disclose time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains.

Resource exploitation and circularity
Newmont does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. Although it discloses activities to improve soil health, it has an opportunity to disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices.

Water
While Newmont has a target to reduce water withdrawal, it does not report reductions in water withdrawal. In addition, the company does not engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. Although the company reports a decrease in water pollution and discloses its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality, there is an opportunity to regularly report on water pollution or disclose targets to reduce water pollution.

Solid and air pollution
Newmont is reducing the production of hazardous waste. However, there is no evidence that it is reducing plastic use and waste in its own operations or whether it reports on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. Additionally, while the company reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants, it does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

GHG emissions
Although Newmont has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, it does not report progress against this target, and no evidence was found that any reduction has been achieved. Therefore, the company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction target is not aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. The company also does not provide evidence that it is reducing its scope 3 emissions and does not disclose an associated reduction target.

Invasive species
No evidence was found that the company identifies the activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive species in its value chain.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Newmont does not disclose a commitment to respect local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment or that it tracks its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities. The company is 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
Newmont 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. In addition, no evidence was found that the company requires 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.

Newmont describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations and its business relationships. It also describes its process for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Finally, it describes its global system to take action to prevent, mitigate or remediate salient human rights issues, which includes a description of how its global system applies to its supply chain. As part of this process, the company identifies the categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities and engages with those stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities.

Newmont has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. It also has a publicly available policy statement showing that it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. The company discloses a that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage , and it explains that it will develop a methodology for determining a living wage for the regions where it operates in 2022. While the company states that it expects its suppliers to pay wages that are sufficient for workers and their families to fulfil their basic needs, it has an opportunity to disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. While the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, it states that monitoring only covers a percentage of the group. The company states that it encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. However, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in this regard.

Newmont discloses a global tax strategy, and it takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. In a public policy statement, the company discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement. However, no evidence was found of a publicly available policy statement specifying that the company does not make political contributions.