In an Investor Statement published today by the Dutch branch of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN NL) and the Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO), DDCAP Group joined 19 international institutional investors in their call for sustainability in the mining sector. The Statement specifically draws attention to improving water management with the underlying goal of preserving biodiversity. The initiators include Actiam, Aegon, NN IP and Robeco. The Statement also calls on the financial sector to publicly endorse this statement.
To reduce the negative impact of the mining sector on biodiversity, IUCN NL and VBDO have jointly approached investors, so that they can use their influence to make the sector more sustainable. With today’s statement, the signatories commit to addressing mining companies about practices that negatively impact available water quality and quantity. 19 entities have now joined the initiative and signed the Investor Statement. Investor signatories will use their influence as shareholders in the discussions they have with the mining industry. The purpose of these discussions is to ensure that the companies involved actualise a significant improvement in their policy and its implementation. In addition, three engagement guides have been published. The guides are intended as a tool for signatories and other stakeholders to enter into a dialogue with the mining sector on the themes of water management, biodiversity and landscape restoration.
In terms of content, the Statement contains several recommendations to the sector, including the publication of water management policy, the involvement of stakeholders, the implementation of stewardship, and accountability in the field of continuous scenario and risk analyses. In addition to the commitment itself, the signatories are calling on other parties to join the initiative and enter into discussions with mining companies to reduce their impact on water and biodiversity. The first talks between the signatories and the companies are already planned.
DDCAP joined this initiative through its status of service provider signatory of the UN-endorsed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). In November 2016, DDCAP Limited became the first (and remains the only) Islamic financial services intermediary to become a signatory PRI. On 16 April 2020, DDCAP announced that DDCAP Limited had become a Stakeholder Endorser of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB), under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), making DDCAP the first Islamic market intermediary to achieve this status. There are only a handful of Islamic finance institutions to become signatories to these two important protocols and a small number to have committed to both. And, as one of these few, DDCAP seeks to engage with both the PRI and the PRB to support the inclusion of Islamic financial markets, including banks, financial institutions and other intermediaries , in these global initiatives and to continue to use its own market position to help promote the goals and the spirit of the PRI and the PRB within the Islamic banking and finance community.
Stella Cox CBE, DDCAP Managing Director, said “As a large volume of Sharia’a compliant financing is facilitated through hard commodity, access to responsibly sourced and sustainably produced metal is a key concern for DDCAP. We support the institutional investors and other PRI signatories in signing this Investor Statement to work together for an environmentally sustainably and socially responsible mining sector.
“DDCAP has an evolved approach to sustainability and corporate responsibility, which is now embedded in the firm’s culture and business through our Sustainable and Responsible Actions (SRA) Programme. Under our SRA Programme, as we seek to grow our sustainable and responsible offering, we would welcome greater access to a broader range of ethical and socially and environmentally sustainable sourcing standards and commodity classes to incorporate into our inventory and offer to our clients and we look towards initiatives like this as a first step in that process.”
The statement will be available from September 28th, 2020 via https://www.vbdo.nl/en/publications/
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About DDCAP Group™
Headquartered in London, DDCAP Group™ (DDCAP) has pioneered Sharia’a compliant intermediation services, bringing automation to the industry sector through the Group’s ETHOS AFP™, serving clients and counterparties across the globe. DDCAP has also invested, for its own account, in a number of Islamic financial sector firms and initiatives. In 2016, DDCAP was one of the first Islamic financial sector firms to be awarded Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Signatory Status. DDCAP is also a Stakeholder Endorser of the UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and a member of the RFI Foundation.
For more information about the VBDO, the investor statement or the guides, please contact Olivier Hofman: 06-4390 3332 / olivier.hofman@vbdo.nl, or visit https://www.vbdo.nl.
For more information about DDCAP Group™ and its involvement with this initiative, please contact Jennifer Schwalbenberg, Head of Corporate Responsibility, j.schwalbenberg@ddcap.co.uk