First sustainability disclosures listed on LMEpassport

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has announced the first sustainability disclosures registered on its newly launched digital credentials register, LMEpassport.

Nine producers have listed disclosures under the LME’s sustainability taxonomy, which covers environmental, social and governance spheres designed to ensure that all aspects of the sustainability world can be reflected.

Georgina Hallett, the LME’s Chief Sustainability Officer, commented: “We’re delighted to see key members of the metals community taking the opportunity to provide greater visibility of sustainability credentials. Transparency can help facilitate meaningful progress in important target areas and we’re pleased to support our brands in their vital work to drive the sustainability agenda across all base metals.”

For the launch, the LME approved a limited set of possible disclosures, but also stated that they will be working forward with its listed brands and standards / certification organisations to expand this set to ensure that brands are able to provide transparency across all their sustainability work. LME claims that with this development, they are responding to growing consumer demand for transparency in respect of ESG standards at all levels.

The LME’s sustainability work started with the introduction of a comprehensive set of responsible sourcing requirements to ensure all metal delivered across the LME has gone through a robust process of identifying and addressing human rights risks.

However, the LME has admitted that it is conscious of the need for progress in sustainability across a much broader range of issues, and the launch of sustainability disclosures in LMEpassport is a key step for the LME in addressing this. Carbon footprint is just one of several such areas captured in the sustainability taxonomy, and which is central to collective efforts to reduce carbon emissions, as set out in the Paris Agreement.

Peter Whitcutt, CEO Marketing, Anglo American, commented on the LMEpassports saying: “We welcome LMEpassport as a way of highlighting not only the quality of our products but also our sustainability credentials, contributing to greater transparency across the entire industry. We look forward to continuing to work with the LME to further demonstrate our commitment to responsible sourcing through future disclosures, such as on-going independent third party assurance of all our mines against recognised standards.”

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