Recommendations for Carbon Neutrality and ESG Management in Mining Industry

Abstract

According to a survey of small- and medium-sized mining companies, 90% of the surveyed companies recognized the necessity of carbon neutrality. However, systematic mitigations have not yet been introduced; therefore, policy support for activation is urgently required. In mining companies, major industrial processes account for 84.6% of their total emissions, so improvements in their processes and facilities should be implemented to reduce carbon emissions. According to government statistics, the carbon-emitting factors of small- and medium-sized enterprises are complicated by industry, and reducing and managing greenhouse gases are challenging because of the large number of companies; therefore, customized reduction measures for each company should be prepared. In this study, we compared and analyzed the differences between the mining and cement industries related to greenhouse gas reduction and examined the cases of related companies and the governmental carbon-neutral support policy to suggest a direction for the domestic small- and medium-sized mining industry to move toward carbon-neutrality.