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Sustainability Index 2020
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Social /
Sustainability Topic: Local Communities
- Management Approach Social
- Sustainability Topic: Stakeholders
- Sustainability Topic: Employment
- Sustainability Topic: Occupational Health And Safety
- Sustainability Topic: Training And Education
- Sustainability Topic: Diversity And Equal Opportunity
- Sustainability Topic: Non-discrimination
- Sustainability Topic: Rights Of Indigenous People
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Sustainability Topic: Local Communities
- Sustainability Topic: Business Partners Social And Environmental Assessment
- Sustainability Topic: Resettlement And Closure Planning
- Sustainability Topic: Socio-Economic Compliance
- Sustainability Topic: Public Policy
- Social – Part Of UN Global Compact
- Labour – Part Of The Ten Principles Of UN Global Impact
SUSTAINABILITY TOPIC: LOCAL COMMUNITIES
413–1 Operations with local community engagement, impact assessments, and development programs
Good social relations are important to Boliden, both for the current business operations and for its new projects – everything from prospecting to finishing. Boliden maintains continuous dialogue with stakeholders and conducts several consultation processes each year where the public and various business owners are invited to attend and submit their views. Ensuring that the consultation process works well is essential for designing activities and projects in the best possible way and giving everyone the opportunity to express their views. As part of this, Boliden is working on developing the process and introducing new ways of working such as a careful analysis of those involved, and the consultations are then adapted to best capture individual groups’ views and ideas. Active and interactive ways of working also capture the attention of participants in a better way. The civil dialogue regarding Gillervattnet and the Boliden Area’s original breakthrough is one example of a developed consultation process.
All (100 percentage) of Boliden’s operations have implemented local community engagement, impact assessments, and/or development programs. In addition to consultation processes, constant dialogue and interaction with stakeholders and the local community take place through different types of activities. These may involve event weeks, with visits from schools, business and municipalities, collaboration and sponsorship of local associations and sports teams, cultural activities and cooperation with hometown associations, etc. In 2020, Boliden’s units sponsored 286 (413) local activities to the tune of approximately SEK 11.4 (10.5) m. Due to Covid-19 not as many activities compared to previous year was possible to carry out.
Keeping the interests of the local community high on the agenda when planning and executing mining and smelting operations is vital to maintaining good relations with the employees, their families, and their neighbors, and is an essential part of being a responsible corporate citizen. Failing to maintain these good relations would be a threat to Boliden’s operations, as it would hamper the ability to attract a competent workforce and jeopardize any potential expansion.
Stakeholder analysis and social impact assessments
Stakeholder identification is also something that Boliden has identified as key to getting the Social License to Operate. Stakeholders are identified during initial exploration and contacted through telephone calls, working plans for exploration or public meetings if the company enters an area of low experience of exploration and mining. Stakeholder management is also a central part of project development, application processes for permits, as well as on an ongoing basis during operation and rehabilitation into the long-term phase. Stakeholders are contacted and involved in different ways. Social impact assessments have been completed in several projects. Boliden has developed a toolbox for different types of stakeholder involvement.
413–2 Operations with significant actual and potential negative impact on local communities
Boliden’s operations with significant actual and potential negative impacts on local communities are located in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Ireland. Measurements are carried out continuously to monitor any impact on the local community’s environment in the form of dust, noise, vibrations and shockwaves from blasting, for example. Methods have also been put in place for assessing impact, e.g. through changes in traffic, the landscape, water access and land access.
Social-impact assessments are made in conjunction with the closure of an operation, in order to assess any consequences to the community and in an effort to mitigate, as far as possible, any negative effects.
The Group’s operations do not only have a substantial impact on job opportunities but also affect supplier purchasing power elsewhere in the local business sector, which, in the long term, impacts the development of communiy service sectors. Boliden estimates that for each Boliden employee, another three to five local job opportunities are, on average, created.