Teck Resources

Sustainability strategy and accountability

Teck Resources discloses its materiality assessment process through a three-year cycle of identification, prioritisation and validation, and provides the outcome of the assessment via a list of sustainability topics. It also has group-wide 2025 targets for key strategic sustainability themes for the most material parts of its value chain, including biodiversity, water use and quality, and communities and Indigenous Peoples. The company reports consistently and discloses the status and summary of progress in 2021 for all of its sustainability strategy goals. Teck Resources’ long-term incentive compensation plan for executives includes a sustainability progress index as one of five metrics, which measure the company’s progress against sustainability topics, including biodiversity and reclamation, equity, diversity and inclusion. The company also applies a mitigation hierarchy framework to achieve its biodiversity goal of securing a net positive impact by 2025.

GHG emissions

Teck Resources has a target of net-zero scope 1 emissions by 2050 and scope 2 emissions by 2025. The targets are aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment

Teck Resources is committed to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as stated in its human rights policy and Indigenous Peoples’ policy. The company conducts human rights assessments and identifies the right to health as one of the salient human rights. The company also identifies relevant holders of the right to health, which include employees, contractors and subcontractors, and local communities.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights

Teck Resources discloses its processes for identifying and recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, and describes how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent regarding whether and how to carry out projects. The company delivers cultural awareness training on respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights to over 600 employees and conducts reviews to reflect the culture and priorities of Indigenous communities.

Sustainability strategy and accountability

While Teck Resources provides a skills matrix of directors’ expertise, it is unclear what specific nature-related expertise, knowledge and experience directors possess.

Stakeholder engagement

While Teck Resources discloses three levels of ongoing engagement with stakeholders (i.e. disclosure, dialogue and participation) and the engagement channels used for local communities, it is unclear about specific channels used for each stakeholder group.

Lobbying

While the company provides a brief introduction to every industry association of which it is a member, it is unclear about the associations’ nature-positive policies. The company does not report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment

While Teck Resources mentions its quantitative metrics to demonstrate nature-positive impact, no evidence was found that the company has 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

Teck Resources does not disclose the locations of its suppliers that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity. Moreover, the company does not disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to its own locations and its suppliers.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration

Teck Resources does not disclose a commitment to ensure zero conversion, nor does it disclose activities or time-bound targets to achieve conversion-free supply chains. Moreover, Teck Resources does not disclose a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion, although it implements strategies for reclamation. While Teck Resources has set goals for conserving and rehabilitating at least three hectares for every one hectare affected by its mining activities, it is unclear whether rehabilitation plans will be implemented on the affected land. Furthermore, no evidence that the company has a commitment regarding the restoration of ecosystems was found in the public domain. The company does not disclose details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity

While Teck Resources discloses mineral waste by composition, it is unclear about the materials used and recycled input materials. The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. While Teck Resources discloses activities to improve soil health or agrobiodiversity in its production or sourcing practices, it does not disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices.

Water

While Teck Resources reports goals related to water use, the targets are not explicitly tied to a reduction in water withdrawal but rather to goals on water management. Moreover, the company does not engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company reports regularly on high- and low-quality water, but no evidence was found that the company reports on water quality parameters such as biological and chemical oxygen demand or total suspended solids. While the company has a target to implement water treatment systems to manage and protect water quality in its operations by 2025, no evidence was found that it reports metrics to reduce water quality pressures. Teck Resources discloses the right to clean water and sanitation as one of its salient human rights, but no action plans have been disclosed.

Solid and air pollution

While Teck Resources discloses data on hazardous waste, no evidence was found that the company addresses the reduction of hazardous waste. Neither was evidence found that the company reduces plastic use and waste in its own operations. While the company discloses waste generated in general, it is unclear about the amount of plastic waste generated. The company does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

GHG emissions

While Teck Resources discloses its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, these increased compared to the previous year. Neither does the company demonstrate a year-on-year reduction compared to the baseline year. The company mentions its ambition to achieve net-zero scope 3 emissions by 2050, but it has an opportunity to make this a clear target.

Invasive species

While Teck Resources mentions that it identified invasive species for its biodiversity management plan, it is unclear about the results of these activities that led to the introduction of invasive species in its own operations and value chain.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment

Teck Resources tracks its actual or potential negative impacts on the health of local communities. However, 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

While Teck Resources mentions that the Canadian state government implemented the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and that the company is guided by this and ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the company’s commitment to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights remains vague. Teck Resources identifies involuntary resettlement and land rights as key industry risks, but it does not express its commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights. 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.

Teck Resources states that every two years, its Human Rights Working Group identifies human rights risks and impacts through a saliency assessment. During this assessment, the company identifies and prioritises the most significant human rights risks to individuals throughout its value chain. The company also describes its process(es) for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. The company provides a case study describing how it has acted on a salient human rights risk issue. The company also discloses categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities and engages with these stakeholders.

Teck Resources has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects the same of its suppliers. The company discloses that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage and describes how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. However, while the company discloses that it conducts a living wage review by comparing the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee in each jurisdiction to the living wage information available in external data sources, it has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. Teck Resources discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. Although the company states that it encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in this regard.

Teck Resources discloses a global tax strategy. It also takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption and 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. While the company only allows political contributions by exception and clearly states the criteria of contributions, it has an opportunity to formalise a commitment not to make any political contributions.