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- Jackson, Sarah, et al.
(författare)
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Mining and Sustainability in the Circumpolar North: The Role of Government in Advancing Corporate Social Responsibility
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Management. - : Springer. - 0364-152X .- 1432-1009. ; 72:1, s. 37-52
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is recognized as important to fostering sustainable natural resource development in the Circumpolar North. Governments are playing an increasingly active role in promoting and shaping CSR initiatives, often in collaboration with Indigenous communities and industry. This paper explores the role of CSR in mining for improving socio-economic and environmental management practice. The article argues that government instituted regulations can lead to the development and implementation of CSR practices by mining companies. To examine the relationship between government requirements and CSR, we use two Northern case studies: Cameco Corporation’s uranium mining operations located in Saskatchewan, Canada and Northern Iron’s iron mining operation located in Troms and Finnmark county, Norway. Through an in-depth review of scholarly literature, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews, our findings suggest that the role of the state in the initiation and implementation of CSR is of much greater importance than is currently acknowledged in the literature. In the case of Cameco, the Mine Surface Lease Agreements agreed to by the corporation and the provincial government provided motivation for the development and implementation of their world-renowned CSR practices, resulting in a community-based environmental monitoring program and benefits for both the company and surrounding communities. With Northern Iron’s operations in Kirkenes, working hour requirements instituted by the Norwegian Government allowed for significantly higher levels of local employment. Our findings suggest a greater role exists for government to facilitate the adoption of CSR policies, contributing in turn to improved socio-economic and environmental outcomes for Northern communities.
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- Poelzer, Gregory A, et al.
(författare)
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Community as Governor: Exploring the role of Community between Industry and Government in SLO
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Management. - : Springer. - 0364-152X .- 1432-1009. ; 72:1, s. 70-83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For many natural resource projects, the impact on Indigenous communities is a primary concern. Therefore, governance arrangements that account for the interests of companies, communities, and government are critical for the project’s success. This paper looked at two successful mining projects in northern Canada, McArthur River and Diavik, to examine the governance arrangement that led to mutually beneficial outcomes. Through an analysis of interviews and documents, we assessed both governing institutions and interactions to understand how the respective companies and communities established a high level of trust. In both cases, government took a less prominent role in the management of resources, allowing the Indigenous communities to hold a stronger role in the governance of the resources. Both Indigenous communities, therefore, built partnerships with the company around socio-economic benefits along with environmental monitoring – redefining ‘community’ in governance arrangements.
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- Garbis, Zoe, et al.
(författare)
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Governing the green economy in the Arctic
- 2023
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Ingår i: Climatic Change. - : Springer Nature. - 0165-0009 .- 1573-1480. ; 176:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Sweden’s Norrbotten County, a “green transition” driven by market demand and new normative structures is underway, creating a regional mega-project designed to put Sweden at the forefront of emerging green industries. These industries, such as carbon-neutral steel fabrication, battery production, and data center hosting, all require large amounts of energy, land, and minerals. This paper applies the regional environmental governance framework to Arctic data to examine which stakeholders have the capacity to impose their agenda on the Arctic environment and the points of conflict and collaboration during this period of accelerated growth. The paper tests the assumption that regional governance accommodates a plurality of interests. A case study examining Norrbotten County’s industrial mega-project centered around Luleå, Sweden, identifies a dominant coalition uniting government and industry that supports norms seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this region. However, the existing regional governance model does a poor job of integrating the local Indigenous Sámi preferences for land use. At the core of the difference between actors advancing the green economy and the local Sámi reindeer herders are divergent conceptions of nature and sustainability.
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- Jannesar Niri, Anahita, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainability challenges throughout the electric vehicle battery value chain
- 2024
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Ingår i: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews. - : Elsevier. - 1364-0321 .- 1879-0690. ; 191
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The global commitment to decarbonizing the transport sector has resulted in an unabated growth in the markets for electric vehicles and their batteries. Consequently, the demand for battery raw materials is continuously growing. As an illustration, to meet the net-zero emissions targets, the electric vehicle market demand for lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite will increase 26-times, 6-times, 12-times, and 9-times respectively between 2021 and 2050. There are diverse challenges in meeting this demand, requiring the world to embrace technological and knowledge advancements and new investments without provoking conflicts between competing goals. The uncertainties in a sustainable supply of battery minerals, environmental, social and governance complexities, and geopolitical tensions throughout the whole battery value chain have shaped the global and regional concerns over the success of transport decarbonization. Here, focusing on the entire value chain of electric vehicle batteries, the approaches adopted by regulatory agencies, governments, mining companies, vehicle and battery manufacturers, and all the other stakeholders are evaluated. Bringing together all these aspects, this literature review broadens the scope for providing multifaceted solutions necessary to optimize the goal of transport decarbonization while upholding sustainability criteria. Consolidating the previously fragmented information, a solid foundation for more in-depth research on existing difficulties encountered by governmental and industrial actors is created. The outcomes of this study may serve as a baseline to develop a framework for a climate smart and resource efficient supply of batteries considering the unique impacts of individual players.
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- Koivurova, Timo, et al.
(författare)
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'Social license to operate' : a relevant term in Northern European mining?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Polar Geography. - 1088-937X .- 1939-0513. ; 38:3, s. 194-227
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The concept of social license to operate (SLO) is increasingly being used throughout the world to describe a specific aspect of company–community relations in resource-extractive projects, in particular how different actors interact to resolve, or not, the social and economic impacts on local communities and other stakeholders. This article will tease out the main elements of the SLO concept and examine the degree to which both actors (mining companies and communities), verbally and in action, respond toward one another. Based on previous empirical studies of scholars in the field, we have applied an analytical framework of SLO to empirically test whether or not it can provide greater insight into the motivations both behind a community's acceptance of or opposition to a company's project, as well as the extent to which a company is willing to appease the public in order to gain their acceptance. The framework combines a set of normative criteria the company must meet as a precondition to gaining SLO, with different levels of community acceptance indicating the degree to which a community bestows SLO on the company. Eight case studies from the European north (two mining projects in each of the countries Norway, Finland, Russia, and Sweden) have been selected to test the SLO analytical framework in order to ultimately determine whether a company's specific SLO practices (i.e. active public engagement, sponsoring community projects, etc.) generate different levels of community acceptance. Although there are other contributing factors that affect company–community relations in the context of mining projects, most notably the legal and regulatory frameworks for resource-extractive projects, the goal of this article is to focus on the social and ethical dimensions of the company–community relationship.
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- Lesser, Pamela, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring scale in social licence to operate: European perspectives
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 384
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores the issue of scale in the social licence to operate (SLO) which, to date, is understudied. The community-company relationship is the original, and still predominant, conceptualization of the term with the less tangible society-industry relationship still not typically in focus. Although the literature distinguishes between community and societal scales, there is no research on why the distinction is important, how the two scales are integrated or whether they interact with and influence one another. Exploring scale in SLO is important for theoretical clarification of the concept, for better empirical understanding of the role mining plays in host localities and the broader society and for the potential to incentivize industry toward more responsible and sustainable practices. Europe's multi-layered governance structure combined with its push for more domestic mining activities provides an ideal crucible for debates of scale to play out. To investigate the community and societal scales in the European context within a single study, three main research questions guide the work: how do orientations toward SLO differ at the community and societal scales; how do these orientations influence the acceptance of mining at both scales; and how do these orientations interact and influence one another? Through quantitative analyses, we found that site level factors tend to be important predictors for local communities and more distant society, but broader societal benefits and costs are not important predictors at the local community scale, and are only significant at the societal scale in combination with local factors.
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