ICMM - International Council on Mining & Metals

ASSURANCE

In May 2008, ICMM's Assurance Procedure was approved by Council, marking an important stage in the evolution of the ICMM Sustainable Development Framework.  The procedure outlines ICMM’s members’ commitment to independent external assurance of the other two elements of ICMM’s Sustainable Development Framework:

• Implementing and measuring performance against the 10 ICMM Principles; and
• Public reporting of performance in line with the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI’s) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (G3, 2006 Guidelines) and the Mining and Metals Sector Supplement (MMSS).  

This approach will give stakeholders and other interested parties assurance over public statements describing how the ICMM SD Framework is being implemented by member companies. It also reinforces and underscores members’ commitment to independent assurance, by building upon and strengthening ICMM’s 2005 Pilot Assurance Procedure. 

Providing independent assurance that members are meeting their commitments

The Assurance Procedure re-focuses the original twin-track approach into a single-track process, which assures the following:

• The alignment of the member company’s sustainability policies to ICMM’s 10 Sustainable Development (SD) Principles and any mandatory requirements set out in ICMM Position Statements.
• The company’s material SD risks and opportunities based on its own review of the business and the views and expectations of its stakeholders.
• The existence and status of implementation of systems and approaches that the company is using to manage the identified material SD risks and opportunities.
• The company’s reported performance during the given reporting period for a selection of identified material SD risks and opportunities.
• The company’s self-declared application level of the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI’s) G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (G3 Guidelines).

The procedure also takes into account recent developments in the external reporting and assurance environment, and in particular the May 2008 commitment of ICMM members to report in accordance with the G3 Guidelines.  The Assurance Procedure has also been designed to be compatible with member companies’ assurance of their own sustainability reports: in practice, most members are likely to assure their sustainability reports and any ICMM-specific assurance requirements in an integrated manner.

The ICMM Assurance Procedure must be implemented by all ICMM members in relation to their sustainability reports for the financial year ending December 2009 or March 2010.