John Mulligan

The United Nations’ climate change conference, COP26, finally wound up after two weeks in Glasgow and an extended period of ‘overtime’, as the world’s governments haggled over the exact nature of their commitments.

We have just published the latest in the ‘gold and climate change’ research series subtitled ‘decarbonising investment portfolios’. This, the fourth of our climate-focused reports, builds on our previous work to quantify gold’s carbon footprint and its decarbonisation pathway.

Today, we announced that all of our Members, the world’s most forward-thinking gold miners, have committed to reporting their positions and progress on climate-related risks in line with the recommendations of Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

There has recently been a lot of discussion and debate around the possible similarities and differences of gold and Bitcoin (and, by implication, other cryptocurrencies), and this has often included consideration of their relative environmental impacts and, specifically, their carbon footprints.

As with all sectors, there will be challenges and obstacles on the pathway to Net Zero, but there is a relatively clear opportunity for gold mining to decarbonise which we believe will open up further opportunities and offer beneficial impacts to a wider set of stakeholders

Gold’s diverse functions and uses have a diverse range of significant impacts. The sector will be absolutely vital in delivering the applications, technology and infrastructure needed to move towards a cleaner, safer world. 

Our new research suggests where, over the next decade, we might expect gold mining to be if it continues on its current direction of travel, particularly if the sector is able to extend and accelerate current trends.

Do these crises prevent market participants from looking beyond the immediate market debris and gloom to identify enduring solutions and consider, in practical terms, how to build future resilience?

In the September edition of Professional Pensions, John Mulligan references the early signs emerging that institutional investors’ are embracing gold as a strategic asset and introduces why gold’s ESG credentials may propel this interest further