Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues continue to be a priority for shareholders and investors alike. A superficial search of the internet indicates that a myriad of standards and guideline exist and that many companies globally voluntarily sign up to demonstrate their adherence to socially and environmentally responsible mining. Since 2017, South African Guideline for the Reporting of Environmental, Social and Governance parameters within the solid minerals and oil and gas industries (SAMESG Guideline) has been available to assist South African mining and exploration companies to navigate the essential ESG information that should be provided in Public Reports. The SAMESG was specifically designed to supplement SAMCODE compliant documents, but has attained international recognition – in 2019, SAMESG was the recipient of the United Nations Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) Honours Award for Outstanding National Initiative to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals.
So, how are South African companies doing in application of the SAMESG Guidelines – read more here (SAMESG Review)