Addressing Above Ground Risks in the Oil and Mining Industries: The Role of Transparency and Community Consent

Date: September 21, 2015, 5:30-7:00pm – Reception following
Location: Open Society Foundations, 224 W 57th St, New York

CCSI, Oxfam and the Emerging Market Investor Alliance hosted a discussion on “Addressing Above Ground Risks in the Oil and Mining Industries: The Role of Transparency and Community Consent.” In an era of major commodity price swings, land and water grabs, and globalized activism, governments and companies alike are both under pressure to ensure public benefits from oil, gas and mining projects. In this challenging context, transparency and community engagement are especially important to help companies and governments manage above-ground risks.

This event explored the following questions:

• How have community consent standards been used by oil, gas and mining industries to manage risk?
• How can transparency help governments and companies manage project risks?
• If fully implemented, what value do laws and corporate practices on transparency and community consent bring to investors and investment markets?

AGENDA

Introduction:  Ashok Parameswaran, Vice President, Sovereign Research, AIG Asset Management; Director, Emerging Markets Investors Alliance

Panel Presentations

Moderator: Lisa Sachs, Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Case Study from South Africa: Lonmin’s Marikana Mine:
Thokozile Madonko, Co-Director, Alternative Development Information Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

Oxfam’s Community Consent Index 2015, a review of the public policies of 38 private and state-owned oil, gas and mining companies:
Isabel Munilla, Senior Policy Advisor, Extractive Industries, Oxfam America

Trends in Extractives Transparency
Andy Miller, Tax Partner, Global Mining & Metals Tax Leader, Ernst & Young

Discussion – Q & A

Closing – Drinks Reception