The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative – what is it, who does it apply to, and how will it affect biodiversity?

The many nature frameworks – like TNFD, SBTN and CSRD – provide tools and guidance for businesses to assess and address their nature-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities. These tools are particularly important for sectors, like mining and metals, can deliver the energy transition minerals needed to achieve climate goals, while ensuring their operations remain aligned with societal expectations.  

However, many of these frameworks, including those designed specifically for mining and metals operations, vary in terms of their performance requirements.  

In some cases, these differences are for good reason. A Standard that applies to bauxite mining will be designed to address a different risk profile than one designed to address biodiversity impacts and business risks along a steel production supply chain.  

In other cases, differences create confusion for companies, particularly those who need to align with multiple frameworks, and end up creating inefficient action on biodiversity that doesn’t add up to achieve global goals for nature.   

The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) aims to harmonise these differences. 

So, what is the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI)?  

The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) is a global effort by organisations to align the growing number of mining sector standards on responsible mining practices. Its primary goal is to simplify implementation and reporting requirements for companies by creating the Consolidated Mining Standard (CMS)—a unified set of rules and guidelines for responsible mining across various companies and materials. Additionally, CMSI aims to clarify the necessary practices for mining operations of all sizes, across all locations and commodities. 

If successful, one consolidated standard could significantly broaden the uptake of best practice approaches to managing risks, and help to create a level playing field that would enable financing mining projects that are aligned with these expectations.   

The CSMI brings together four well-established standards: The Copper Mark, Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining(TSM), World Gold Council’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles and ICMM’s Mining Principles and Nature Position Statement. If broadly applied, it could have the widest coverage of any voluntary mining standard to date, covering 100 companies across 600 facilities in 60 countries. 

The first public consultation on the CMS  wrapped up late last year, updates are now being made with another consultation to be completed later this year prior to endorsement and, if successful, implementation in 2026.

How do the CMS performance requirements apply to biodiversity? 

The CMSI’s draft Consolidated Standard includes requirements for 24 Performance Areas, organised under four pillars, as shown below.

Ethical Business Practices	Worker & Social Safeguards	Social Performance	Environmental Stewardship
1. Corporate requirements 2. Business ethics and integrity 3. Responsible supply chains 4. New projects, expansions and resettlement 5. Human rights	6. Child and forced labour 7. Right of workers 8. Diversity, equity and inclusion 9. Safe, healthy and respectful workers 10. Emergency preparedness and response 11. Security management	12. Stakeholder management 13. Community impacts and benefits 14. Indigenous peoples 15. Cultural heritage 16. Artisanal and small-scale mining 17. Grievance management	18. Water stewardship 19. Biodiversity, ecosystem services and nature 20. Climate change 21. Tailings 22. Pollution prevention 23. Circular economy 24. Mine closure

Requirements are to be implemented at the facility level (e.g. a mining site) according to one of three performance levels:  

Foundational Practice (for companies ‘on the road’ to implementing good practice), Good Practice (in line with industry standards and international norms, frameworks and guidance), and Leading Practice (above and beyond good practice, demonstrating leadership).  

Performance Area 19 covers Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Nature. It intends to identify and address material risks and impacts to biodiversity and ecosystem services by applying the mitigation hierarchy and by implementing management practices to achieve at least No Net Loss or a Net Gain of biodiversity and contribute to a nature-positive future.  

Foundational practice is predominately focused on impact avoidance and compliance with government regulations. Good practice requires application of the Mitigation Hierarchy, stakeholder engagement to set targets and develop management plans, and public disclosures, broadly in line with global reporting frameworks. And leading practice requires a Net Gain in biodiversity, independent reviews of progress and collaboration in implementing biodiversity management plans.

Opportunities to ensure the CMSI supports business and nature

While many of these requirements align with good and leading practice, The Biodiversity Consultancy’s review and input into the public consultation process identified four ways to further support the mining sector and align with global goals for nature.    

1.  Align the level of ambition with current stakeholder expectations  

This is particularly true when it comes to application of the Mitigation Hierarchy and Achievement of NNL of biodiversity. Achieving the intent of contributing to a Nature Positive future requires avoiding biodiversity losses, including to species and ecosystems, beyond World Heritage Sites and already Protected Areas.   

2.  Clarify nature positive contributions  

Reduce unnecessary confusion for companies by clarifying what “Nature Positive” contributions are and build requirements to achieve them into Leading Practice. These should include measures that go beyond impact mitigation, such as delivering landscape conservation goals, building capacity to address cumulative impacts, and participating in collaborative initiatives to repurpose and harness value from abandoned or legacy mine sites. 

3. Integrate biodiversity across performance areas 

With the aim to improve efficiencies in implementation, this step includes those related to Mine Closure (Area 24), such ensuring financial assurance for biodiversity impact offsetting, and Responsible Supply Chains (Area 3). 

4. Support facility maturation 

The final step is to ensure that plans are made to transition foundational practices towards good and leading practice for all sites. Recognizing that not all operations have the capacity to jump to leading practice helps to level the playing field for investment, but this must be coupled with guidance on how and when to make the next step.

The road ahead for mining sector

If approved, the proposal is to members of the four organisations involved – ICMM, the World Gold Council, the Towards Sustainable mining Standard, and The Copper Mark –to align with the new consolidated standard. But a potential change in performance and reporting requirements shouldn’t be a reason to pause on nature strategy development.  

The framework landscape will always be in flux. But good practice principals and global goals for nature are clear and, if a consolidated standard is endorsed, it is unlikely to widely differ from this. Aligning with good practice is a strategic way forward and The Biodiversity Consultancy is here to help understand what that means for your business. Our consultants can help you interpret your business needs and apply the relevant framework to your organisation. 

Connect with our consultants through this page. 

Categories: Mining & Aggregates, Publications, Insight