Why voluntary sustainability standards matter in mining and how their impact can be strengthened

19 December 2025

As expectations of the mining sector continue to evolve, voluntary standards have become a central mechanism for building transparency, accountability and trust across complex mineral value chains. Industry leaders such as BHP Billiton and Cobalt Institute, civil society representatives including EITI and Oxfam USA, and representatives from standard-setting organisations  including ASI, CopperMark, ICMM, IRMA, and ResponsibleSteel came together for a Leadership Roundtable during the Resourcing Tomorrow conference in London on 4 December to explore why mining standards exist, what they can realistically achieve, and how their impact can be strengthened.

Facilitated by Assheton Carter from TDi Sustainability, the roundtable examined the role and promise of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), and some of their limits. It was noted that VSS emerged to fill gaps that governments, markets, and institutions were unable or slow to address – particularly in global, high-impact sectors like mining.

The participants also discussed what makes a “good” standard. Participants agreed that the ISEAL Code of Good Practice sets the baseline for what credible standards must meet, including criteria for standard-setting, assurance, governance, claims and measuring impacts.  ASI is one of the few standards that is ISEAL Code Compliant, and urged the other standards to also become independently verified against the ISEAL Code. Speakers also discussed the importance of collaboration and cross-recognition to prevent unnecessary duplication.  The new Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative is an example of this, and ASI plans to engage in the cross-recognition process when the initiative launches in the future.

Other topics of discussion included how success is measured, taking into account the perspectives from different stakeholders such as civil society, affected communities and the investment sector, as well as the importance for standards to have a rigorous system in place to measure impacts.

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