Mining and metals, North America Embedding sustainability in capital project development

Summary

EEM worked with project engineers at a major Canadian mining company to embed consideration of key sustainability factors in the evaluation of capital expenditure projects.

Approach and Solution

The mandate involved mapping the existing project evaluation process and developing a toolset to evaluate critical sustainability dimensions at key gate-review stages throughout the capital project evaluation lifecycle – from options identification through detailed financial analysis and finally to developing a sustainability risk mitigation approach prior to the operationalisation of capital project investments. The mandate also included training and capacity building to ensure that employees involved in capital projects have the skills required to properly identify and evaluate sustainable development aspects of capital expenditure projects.

Results

Embedding sustainability in the capital project evaluation project ensured that sustainability is considered early enough in the process to meaningfully impact project outcomes. The work also built employee capacity to understand and validate the environmental and social impacts of their decisions.