Canada’s mining industry recognizes its important role in reducing its emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change.
At the same time, the mining sector is uniquely positioned to supply the minerals and metals required for the global technological transformation that will be required to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. The TSM Climate Change Protocol is designed to support mining companies in managing their climate-related risks and opportunities, including associated mitigation and adaptation strategies, target-setting, and reporting.
Published in 2021, the TSM Climate Change Protocol represents a major update to the TSM Energy Use and GHG Emissions Management Protocol.
Following this protocol, facilities will:
- Put in place corporate commitments, governance, and processes at the board and management levels to support the consideration of climate change implications in business strategy.
- Develop facility-level systems to manage energy, GHG emissions, physical climate impacts and adaptation.
- Set facility-level energy and GHG emissions performance targets and reporting annually on energy, GHG emissions, potential physical climate impacts, and adaptation measures.
The protocol supports mining companies in responding to emerging investor expectations around climate-related disclosures, including the Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
This includes requirements for:
- Board and management structures and reporting processes related to the governance of climate-related risks and opportunities.
- A corporate climate change strategy supported by actions and integrated into business planning.
- Analysis and management of material climate-related risks and their impacts on the company’s broader business, strategy, and financial planning.
- Reporting of materials on corporate governance, strategy, risk analysis, metrics and targets related to climate action.
At higher levels of performance, companies will be required to make commitments – supported by short- and long-term targets and actions – to climate action consistent with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees, as well as commitments corresponding with ambitions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
In addition to enhanced requirements for energy use and GHG emissions management systems, the TSM Climate Change Protocol incorporates comprehensive requirements for the management of physical climate impacts and adaptation, supported by MAC’s Guide on Climate Change Adaptation for the Mining Sector.
These include:
- Assessment and identification of potential physical climate impacts.
- Consideration of physical climate risks in relevant facility-level decision-making.
- Identification and implementation of adaptation measures in response to the physical climate impacts that are identified.
Facilities will produce their first internal reports on the TSM Climate Change Protocol in 2022, followed by first public reporting in 2023.
