Is the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) sufficient to generate transparency in environmental impact and legacy risks? The Zambian minerals sector

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:129

Article

Sequeira, Ana Rita^1,2  McHenry, Mark P.³  Morrison-Saunders, Angus^1,4  Mtegha, Hudson⁵  Doepel, David⁶ 

[1] Murdoch Univ, Sch Vet & Life Sci, Environm & Conservat Sci, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia

[2] ISCTE Lisbon Univ Inst, Lisbon, Portugal

[3] Murdoch Univ, Sch Engn & Informat Technol, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia

[4] North West Univ, Res Unit Environm Sci & Management, Potchefstroom, South Africa

[5] Univ Witwatersrand, Sch Min Engn, ZA-2050 Johannesburg, South Africa

[6] Murdoch Univ, Africa Res Grp, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia

关键词: Extractive industry;    Minerals;    Transparency;    Environmental;    Legacy;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.036

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Developing administrative and financial mechanisms to achieve transparency and compliance with legal frameworks related to mine operation and closure is a major challenge. Ensuring the appropriate level of disclosure, transparency, and accountability of all compliant and non-compliant parties, and accessibility of this information to external interested parties is a cornerstone of achieving a well-governed minerals sector. This research investigates mining company voluntary environmental disclosures in Zambia as an indicator of how the EITI (Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative) may or may not achieve transparency and accountability. Our research findings drew on three sources: literature review, qualitative primary data with EITI and government officials and content analysis to compare public environmental reporting via company websites of a total of 27 mining companies operating in Zambia. Our analysis found that non-EITI and EM selected companies disclose similar provisions for environmental liabilities at country, subsidiary, or multinational level. While EITI compliance may improve the environmental financial disclosure by mining companies, the detail and specificity of the voluntarily disclosed information is insufficiently transparent to third parties investigating whether governments and companies are compliant with the law in terms of environmental and governance considerations. We propose solutions to achieve transparency in practice by linking aggregated international voluntary initiatives (akin to the EM) with mandatory jurisdiction-level reforms in mining financial securities and mine closure legislation accounted at the tenement level that is publicly available. Such reforms enable both independent accounting of financial transactions and improved national capacity for minerals sector governance that attracts international investment and incentivises an innovative, environmentally sustainable, and an economically beneficial mining industry. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free