Asian Critical Minerals Mining Shows Persistent Gap Between Sustainability Pledges and Practice

A new report by the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change and ISS STOXX Research Institute finds that Asian mining companies producing nickel, cobalt, and copper show widespread adoption of sustainability policies but consistently weak implementation, exposing investors to environmental, human rights, and climate risks. The assessment of 14 mining operators across Asia found that nine had formal human rights policies but only seven demonstrated strong human rights due diligence.

The study found significant modern slavery vulnerabilities, with seven of 14 operators categorised as high risk for supply chain-related modern slavery concerns and all 14 assessed as operating in locations with elevated modern slavery risks. Mine closure, decommissioning, and land reclamation were identified as major weaknesses, with only two companies classified as leaders. Environmental performance was mixed: 10 companies led on reducing GHG emission intensity, but seven were categorised as laggards on setting reduction targets and another seven on disclosing climate risks.

Biodiversity and water dependencies emerged as critical financial risks. Mining operators derive 63 per cent of their ecosystem service revenue dependency from regulatory and maintenance services including water flow regulation, and 35 per cent from freshwater provisioning. Under a high-emissions scenario projecting approximately 4.3°C warming by 2100, 77 of 297 assessed mining assets across Asia will face high water stress risk between 2026 and 2040, rising to 140 assets by 2055. Heatwave exposure is projected to increase more than 130 per cent over the same period.

Indonesia's dominance of global nickel supply — holding more than 22 per cent of reserves and accounting for 60 per cent of 2024 production — places it at the centre of the critical minerals supply chain for electric vehicles and renewable energy. The report recommends that investors strengthen due diligence, prioritise engagement where implementation gaps are greatest, and integrate climate and nature risk analytics into investment decisions. A review of 69 mining-related investor engagement cases between 2020 and 2025 found that half involved environmental violations and more than a third involved human rights violations.

Key figure — 140 Asian mining assets projected to face high water stress by 2055