Creating positive change through nature-positive mining

 

As the world races to decarbonise and deliver a clean‑energy transition, the mining and metals sector sits at a defining crossroads. Demand for critical minerals, copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earths, continues to surge. At the same time, heightened expectations from communities, regulators, and investors are bringing greater focus to how mining operations manage habitats, water systems, and biodiversity.

 

The emerging concept of nature‑positive mining offers a way forward: supply the minerals the world urgently needs while preventing, reducing, and ultimately helping reverse harm to ecosystems. The question is no longer why this shift is needed, but how it becomes real in practice.

The clean‑energy transition requires unprecedented volumes of minerals. Yet mining’s historical impacts present a critical challenge: can the industry meet rising demand while restoring nature rather than harming it? The idea of nature‑positive mining suggests it can, but only if the sector transforms how it operates.

 

What do we mean by “nature‑positive mining”?

“Nature positive” is increasingly used across global biodiversity and sustainability conversations, but its meaning is often inconsistently applied. At its core, the term refers to measurable improvements in nature, gains in the health, abundance, diversity, and resilience of ecosystems, species, and natural processes.

For mining, this represents a fundamental shift from “extract, impact, demobilise” to stewardship, restoration, and long‑term ecological recovery built in by design.

Crucially, nature‑positive mining does not mean claiming a mine itself is “nature‑positive.” It means designing and operating mines so that the net effect on nature is demonstrably improved, grounded in science and credible measurement.

This distinction is critical, and one the industry is still working to clarify.

 

Is nature‑positive mining even possible, especially as mineral demand grows?

Yes, but only with systemic change. The global demand for critical minerals is expected to increase four to six times by 2040 as the energy transition ramps up. Meanwhile, mining operations already occupy vast land areas, often overlapping with sensitive ecosystems, protected areas, or lands of Indigenous and local communities. Realizing a nature-positive mining future will require:

• Rigorous application of the mitigation hierarchy: avoid damage where possible, minimize harm if avoidance isn’t feasible, restore ecosystems after use, and implement biodiversity offsets only as a last resort.
• Robust baselines and ongoing monitoring (e.g. biodiversity surveys, surface and groundwater studies) before project approval and continue with ongoing monitoring and transparent reporting.
• Landscape‑level planning and partnerships: collaborate with local communities, Indigenous peoples, and conservation organizations to align mining with broader conservation goals.
• Circularity and responsible sourcing: reduce waste, reuse and recycle minerals, and optimize resource efficiency across the value chain.

These actions form the minimum foundation for credible nature‑positive pathways.

 

What is the role of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM)?

In recognition of this challenge, ICMM, which represents about one-third of the global mining and metals industry, has formally committed to support a nature-positive future.

Key elements of ICMM’s position include:

• No mining or exploration in World Heritage Sites or other legally protected areas.
• Achieve at least no net loss of biodiversity at all mine sites (by closure) relative to a 2020 baseline. For new mines or major expansions, the baseline must be set before operation or expansion begins.
• Act across the full value chain from direct operations to supply chains, landscape-level engagement, and systemic change.
• Transparent disclosure of nature-related impacts, dependencies, risks, and performance outcomes.

In 2025 ICMM published new biodiversity-protection and restoration guidance, offering a practical “roadmap to nature positive” for mining companies across all phases of a mine lifecycle from design to closure.

Through this collective commitment, mining companies are effectively acknowledging that providing critical minerals for a low-carbon future must not come at the expense of nature.

 

How is Hatch supporting the nature‑positive transition for mining?

Hatch has partnered with sustainability‑specialist firm Etifor to deliver Nature‑Positive Consultancy Services Nature‑Positive Consultancy Services aligned with the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and ICMM commitments.

At a time when “nature‑positive” is widely used but often inconsistently defined, Hatch provides the technical rigor and clarity needed to make nature‑positive pathways credible and operational. By integrating biodiversity science, engineering expertise, and landscape‑level planning, we help clients move beyond ambition to measurable implementation.

Through this partnership, Hatch helps clients:

• Conduct impact and dependency assessments to identify how their operations effect, and depend on biodiversity, water, soil, and ecosystem services.
• Improve access to capital and preferential financing.
• Provide operational cost savings and even create new revenue opportunities via nature risk management, offsetting and biodiversity credit markets.
• Prepare nature-related disclosures in line with emerging frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) to support transparency and investor confidence.
• Develop site-specific biodiversity strategies integrating baseline data, promoting ecosystem-based carbon capture, applying the mitigation hierarchy, planning restoration and rehabilitation, and designing long-term conservation/offset programs.
• Deliver closure and restoration commitments that aim to exceed baseline biodiversity values.
• Engage with local communities and identified stakeholders, including Indigenous peoples, to support inclusive landscape-level planning and stewardship that respects local rights and values and secures social license.

By providing practical interpretation, scientific rigor, and multidisciplinary delivery, Hatch is helping define how nature‑positive mining works, not just in theory, but on the ground.

Or, in short: Hatch is playing a central role in clarifying what nature‑positive mining means in practice and translating global frameworks into actionable pathways for clients.

 

What will it take to make mining nature‑positive?

The energy transition depends on critical minerals, but unless mining evolves, it risks driving new waves of biodiversity loss and ecological damage. Nature‑positive mining offers a path forward that balances human need, planetary boundaries, and ecological stewardship.

Hatch is already supporting clients to implement the principles required for this shift, from credible baselines to mitigation and restoration, value‑chain accountability, and meaningful engagement with communities and nature.

Through our partnership with Etifor and our integrated engineering, environmental, and biodiversity expertise, Hatch is helping set the standard for how nature‑positive principles can be applied across the mining lifecycle.

Making nature‑positive mining the norm across the sector will require ambition, transparency, and rigorous action. With credible frameworks, sustained investment, and integrity, mining can, and must, become part of the solution for a sustainable planet.