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“Our vision is to create the world’s most valued gold and copper mining company by creating long-term value for all our stakeholders, driving social and economic development in our host communities and countries, and to responsibly manage the impact of our business on the environment.”
Mark Bristow,
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Barrick Gold Corporation.
Barrick Gold Corporation’s sustainability strategy is based on integrated and holistic management and aligned with the objectives of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seeks to deliver outcomes that are achievable, demonstrable, and align with global priorities, says president and chief executive Mark Bristow in the company’s 2022 Sustainability Report.
Bristow says by using the SDGs as the central framework of its sustainability reporting, Barrick is better able to link an integrated approach to sustainability management, and to avoid the siloed thinking and mere box-ticking approach that can be a consequence of taking an ESG compliance-driven approach. Barrick’s latest Sustainability Report, it’s fifth since the transformational merger with Randgold Resources in 2019, still complies with important key reporting frameworks, but its primary lens for understanding and measuring its progress in sustainability aligns with a focus on the SDGs — an often-forgotten global commitment.
“Our sustainability approach allows us to tackle the challenges of alleviating poverty, managing changes to the climate, and preserving biodiversity holistically and concurrently because they are inextricably connected,” he says.
For example, Barrick generated more than $10.7 billion in economic value and created 21,000 jobs in 2022 (SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth). Additionally, 96% of its employees and 78% of its senior site managers are host country nationals, and $1.4 billion worth of goods and services were procured from suppliers in the communities closest to its mines. In total, Barrick spent over $6.1 billion on host country suppliers in 2022.
It also invested more than $36 million in community development projects from education facilities in Nevada (SDG 4: Quality Education), to business incubators in the Dominican Republic (SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) and gender-based violence awareness in Tanzania (SDG 5: Gender Equality). Barrick’s employees at its Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic are now 23% women, with a target of 50% female representation for all new hires (SDG 5: Gender Equality and SDG 10: Reduced Inequality). Pueblo Viejo is the first Dominican mining company to have been awarded the highest level of gender equality certification by the country’s Ministry of Women and the United Nations Development Programme.
On the environmental front, Barrick has set itself a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target that is both demonstrable and achievable (SDG 13: Climate Action). The company’s total emissions in 2022 were 6,705kt CO2e (Scope 1 and 2: market-based), which is 6% lower compared to the year before and an 11% reduction against its 2018 baseline.
“Our vision is to create the world’s most valued gold and copper mining company by creating long-term value for all our stakeholders, driving social and economic development in our host communities and countries, and to responsibly manage the impact of our business on the environment. For us, sustainability is instrumental in our continued drive to operate mines that are welcomed and respected as development partners throughout the world,” Bristow says.