Materials Impact Report: Mining & Metals Edition, Q1 2025

Climate Health Risks and Trade Complexity Reshape Mining Safety Priorities

This comprehensive analysis examines how lethal humidity poses a significant health and safety risk for mining companies, with 2024's record-breaking heat driving widespread mortality due to humid heat across the Northern Hemisphere. The research examines how these extreme conditions present both operational challenges and strategic considerations, necessitating robust materiality assessment processes that address both financial materiality through business continuity risks and impact materiality through worker welfare across global mining operations.

The report additionally reveals how recent tariff volatility has disrupted safety initiatives for 56% of mining companies particularly affecting investments in advanced cooling technologies and worker protection systems.

Call to Action: Mining companies should develop regionally balanced operations and implement resilient safety programmes that can adapt to trade policy fluctuations ensuring worker protection remains prioritised despite economic and climate uncertainties.

The report highlights innovative approaches from industry leaders, with Fortescue establishing a global council to address the risks of lethal humidity. At the same time, BHP expanded its humidity testing to include non-invasive tongue strips for hydration assessment and implemented real-time core body temperature monitoring. These technological interventions enable more sophisticated approaches to workforce protection while satisfying evolving CSRD reporting requirements on occupational health and safety throughout the mining value chain.

This analysis reveals significant disparities in heat resilience preparedness across the sector, with approximately 35% of mining operations lacking comprehensive heat management protocols despite increasing evidence of climate-related risks. This gap in strategic planning poses material risks as global temperatures continue to rise, necessitating sophisticated governance approaches and strategic foresight throughout mining operations and supply chains.

The report examines the impact of extreme heat events on both surface and underground mining activities, with particular challenges for operations in tropical and subtropical regions. Companies implementing integrated heat management strategies, which combine infrastructure modifications, worker protection protocols, and operational adjustments, are demonstrating enhanced resilience against increasingly frequent and severe heat events. This reflects growing industry recognition of the double materiality considerations in climate adaptation planning.

Looking toward future mining landscapes, the report identifies how adaptive operational scheduling, advanced cooling technologies and comprehensive worker monitoring systems are transforming industry approaches to sustainability and climate resilience. Companies implementing comprehensive approaches, including humidity-adaptive ventilation systems, AI-powered heat stress prediction models and individualised hydration tracking, are demonstrating enhanced preparedness while enhancing ESG performance metrics that increasingly influence investor decisions and regulatory compliance.