• The expert analyzed the risks and opportunities that Peru must face in order to reduce its carbon emissions, as well as the need for public-private collaboration.

On the second day of conferences at Rumbo a PERUMIN [The road to PERUMIN]: “Evolution of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Issues in Mining,” Javier Perla, Sustainability Services Manager at SGS, warned of the risks of not taking effective action to address climate change and of not making a commitment to fight against it.

“The first message I want to deliver is that even though climate change seems to be an environmental issue, it is not. It is a development issue, which involves economic and social aspects, among others,” Perla pointed out.

He highlighted the context of climate change as evidenced in recent years through heat waves, forest fires, droughts, frosts, etc. And this is a consequence of our demands on our planet being far greater than what it is capable to deliver.

“One thing that seems to me to be very simple and useful is the logical realization that it is strange for us to take more resources from the Earth than it can give. It is absurd to use up more than we have. Yet, according to the Footprint Data Foundation study, we are using about 1.75 of planet Earth and we only have 1 planet,” he explained.

Accordingly, he referred to the report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was described as code red for humanity by the UN Secretary General. This situation, in the speaker's opinion, does not mean the end of the Earth, nor of humanity, but it could be the end of civilization and the way we organize ourselves today.

Nevertheless, Javier Perla underscored as good news the Paris Agreement reached at the COP21 in Paris (UN Conference on Biodiversity), held in 2015, where all countries agreed and there was a consensus on global political will which is highly important.

“The core of the Paris Agreement is that each country has a target to reduce carbon emissions. Peru, for example, said 30%. On the downside, adding it all up, we fall short of what is needed. We need to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and adding up all the contributions we reach 3.2° - 3.5°,” he indicated.

Therefore, in 2020 Peru proposed to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, and other countries are expected to do the same.

Participation of the private sector

The Sustainability Services Manager at SGS emphasized the importance of the private sector working together with the public sector to achieve the goal set and address climate change. In this regard, he highlighted the contribution that the mining sector has made in Peru and noted the importance of metals in the transition to non-polluting energies.

“In fact, climate change and decreasing CO2 emissions implies increasing mining production, as more copper, zinc, etc. are needed to store renewable energy,” he said.

According to the World Economic Forum, environmental risks have been defined as very significant, since they have an impact on the rest of human activities. And if environmental issues are not taken into consideration in companies, there is a risk that they are not factoring in and that can affect the sustainability of the business.

“I want to deliver 5 key messages: The science is clear and national and international policy is defined; the private sector is a key player; mining is essential for the reduction of carbon emissions; there are risks but also many opportunities; and we have achieved significant progress in Peru,” Perla concluded.