Stewardship
Stewardship is a principle that calls on all those involved in the product life cycle to share responsibility for minimising the environmental and human impacts that result from the production, use and disposal of the product.
Our Sustainable Development Policy commits us to ‘work with those involved through the life cycles of our products and by-products to promote their responsible use and management’.
As a member of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), we have also committed to implementing the ICMM Sustainable Development Framework, which requires that we ‘facilitate and encourage responsible product design, use, re-use, recycling and disposal of our products’.
Our stewardship performance is assessed against HSEC Management Standard 12, which requires that ‘the life cycle HSEC impacts associated with resources, materials, processes and products are minimised and managed’. The Standard places particular emphasis on materials and resources efficiency, research and development, waste management, response to external influences and site closure.
In accordance with the International Standard for life cycle assessment, ISO 14043, we have completed life cycle assessments for all of our major commodities. Going forward, a number of our HSEC Targets 2008-2012 relate to stewardship, including the requirement for all sites to retain ISO 14001 certification; improved performance against our HSEC Management Standards and occupational exposure baseline; and targets for energy, greenhouse and water efficiency.
For the past three years, our focus has been directed to working with various stakeholders to build stewardship programs across our commodities. Stakeholders include non-government and industry associations, consumer groups and suppliers, as well as governing regulatory bodies.
Such industry-driven stewardship initiatives are designed to complement the various regulatory frameworks existing in our operating regions and confirm the importance of a collaborative approach to stewardship.
Types of Stewardship
There are four types of stewardship in the life cycle of our products:
- Material stewardship – refers to the different materials utilised to produce the product as the product moves through its life cycle. These include consumables ranging from tyres and fuel to water and energy. Material stewardship is about understanding and managing these materials (or inputs) in order to minimise harm to people and the environment.
- Resource stewardship – ensuring we maximise the value of the resource (e.g., an ore deposit) for both current and future generations.
- Product stewardship – understanding and managing our specific products or commodities in order to minimise harm to people and the environment, as a result of exposure to the particular product and commodities. This is a shared responsibility with others in the life cycle of our product and commodities.
- Process stewardship – refers to the different processes applied to the product (e.g., extraction, smelting) as the product moves through its life cycle and that have the potential to generate outputs (other than just the product). These could include greenhouse gases, waste and other emissions. Process stewardship is about understanding and managing these processes (or outputs) in order to minimise harm to people and the environment.
While material, process and product stewardship apply at all stages of the life cycle, resource stewardship is most prominent in the early stages of the life cycle. Common to all parts of the life cycle are the transport and marketing functions, as both play a critical role in stewardship.
The four types of stewardship are illustrated below, using a generic product life cycle.
The same model can be expanded upon for:
- Each individual stage of the overall product life cycle; for example, the extractive stage
- Individual sites; for example Olympic Dam