Candid Reflections on Resource-Based Development
Building on more than a decade of experience working on mining governance with a range of stakeholders, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), in association with Steptoe LLP, is hosting a four-part webinar series to identify the persistent complex challenges that have hindered sustainable resource-based development, discuss these challenges candidly, and advance collaborative approaches that can effectively address them.
The recently published UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals’ Guiding Principles on Critical Energy Transition Minerals reflect global stakeholders’ continued commitment to, and the urgency of, realizing resource-based development. The Guiding Principles build on and consolidate many of the results of the research, advocacy, leadership, and engagement by and among governments, the private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders in mining value chains over the past couple of decades.
In practice, achieving enduring, equitable benefits from such investment has raised enormous challenges, revealed persistent tensions and confirmed divergent perspectives. The challenges and imperatives of climate change and the energy transition have added an entire new urgency to these exchanges.
Rather than standing on positions, a more rigorous and honest conversation is needed to move things forward and realize the goals underlying the UN Principles. Each of our four public discussions will bring together experts who genuinely understand and have grappled with the thorny issues in concrete contexts. Speaking in their personal capacities, they will offer insights on how both the UN Panel and the broader resource governance community can work differently to promote and achieve productive outcomes. The series is meant as a launching pad, a workshop of ideas, a forum for real exchange and generation of future trajectories.
The webinar session themes, descriptions, dates, and confirmed speakers are outlined below. They will be moderated by Lisa Sachs, Director, CCSI, and Christophe Bondy, Partner, Steptoe LLP.
Session 1: Striking the right balance between regulatory stability and regulatory flexibility
April 9, 2025 – 9:00 to 10:30 am, Eastern Time
View the webinar.
Mining investors reasonably seek a degree of legal stability when committing to their projects, which often require substantial up-front capital investments and operate over decades. At the same time, host states may need to take measures to strengthen the governance of their mining sector, to derive greater benefits from such investments and to meet critical public interest imperatives, including development, environmental protection, and climate goals. These efforts often involve updating environmental standards, revising tax regimes, and adapting regulations to evolving circumstances and community needs. Yet even legitimate and necessary measures can lead to disputes with mining investors, notably where new measures change the legal or fiscal framework. This panel examined the persistent tensions between regulatory stability and flexibility, explored why progress toward a sustainable balance has been elusive, and identified approaches to achieving a governance framework that aligns the interests of all stakeholders while advancing sustainable development.
Speakers:
- Scot Anderson, Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson
- Todd Clewett, External Affairs Executive and Political Risk Strategist in the Resources Sector
- Nneoma Nwogu, Senior Counsel, World Bank Group
- Vanessa Rivas Plata, Former President, Special Commission that Represents Peru in International Investment Disputes
Session 2: Reaching a fair deal that balances risks and rewards in mining investments
April 30, 2025 – 9:00 to 10:30 am, Eastern Time
View the webinar.
A fundamental dimension of any equitable vision of a mining project relates to its financial benefit for the host state and community. The proposition of many large mining projects is indeed that the fiscal benefits of the project will be transformative for the host state; accordingly, many developing countries are eager to attract such projects, anticipating substantial revenues, along with jobs, community development, access to foreign markets, and development of local expertise. In practice, governments often struggle to secure the best possible returns, or find that anticipated revenues are offset by tax holidays and other fiscal loopholes. As risk takers and sources of capital and expertise, mining companies see it as legitimate that they reap substantial economic upsides from successful projects. Yet as the owner of the mineral resource, host states believe that the government should take the larger share. Many disputes relate to governments’ attempts to increase their take, when agreed fiscal terms fail to generate anticipated revenues, or where they seek to enhance the downstream benefits of projects by imposing local processing requirements. This panel explored this tension, and in particular, what a ‘fair deal’ looks like, and the possibility to define adequate benchmarks.
Speakers:
- Ignacio Bustamante, Head of Base Metals, Appian Capital Advisory LLP
- Antonio Pedro, Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
- Amir Shaikh, Lead Counsel, World Bank Group
- Salli Swartz, Former Chair, International Section of the American Bar Association
- Joe Tato, Senior Counsel, Steptoe
Session 3: Managing community relationships and environmental impacts
May 21, 2025 – 9:00 to 10:30 am, Eastern Time
View the webinar.
Mining has highly localized community and environmental impacts, unfolding in relatively remote geographies and often affecting marginalized communities. Out of necessity and in response to robust public scrutiny, the mining industry has invested resources and developed experience in engaging in a profound and sophisticated way with these issues. Regardless, failure and acrimony remain common. Environmental and social impact assessments—often sponsored by the mining company itself—that under-report social and environmental risks can lead to conclusions that fail to reflect the true impacts of investments. For their part, national environmental agencies have comparatively under-resourced technical teams to review and shape environmental assessments and management plans. Moreover, the interests of local communities may not be represented by national governments. Despite decades of effort to establish best practices in both community rights and environmental protection, the cycle has been difficult to break. This panel will engage with the politics of environmental and social impacts and management plans, and consider whether new ways to approach this central challenge might alleviate persistent tensions.
Speakers:
- Todd Clewett, External Affairs Executive and Political Risk Strategist in the Resources Sector
- Allan Marks, Former Partner, Milbank LLP and Senior Fellow, CCSI
- Githa Roleans, Head of Multinational Enterprises and Responsible Business Conduct Unit, ILO
- Kelly Stark-Anderson, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs & General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Dundee Precious Metals, Inc.
Session 4: Navigating complex governance environments
June 23, 2025 – 9:00 to 10:30 am, Eastern Time
View the webinar.
Mineral deposits are often located in contexts in which the interplay of diverse interests, power asymmetries, and resource constraints together create significant governance challenges negatively affecting project outcomes. Such challenges are not confined to host governments but extend beyond them to all stakeholders, including mining companies, their home governments, international organizations, and local communities. Diverging priorities, information imbalances, the complexities of addressing corruption and of aligning interests exacerbate the difficulties of leveraging resource wealth for sustainable development. This panel will help to unpack these interconnected governance challenges, reflect on the (mis)alignment of governance initiatives and interventions in light of these challenges, and chart a path forward for navigating this complexity.
Speakers:
- Jeffrey Sachs, President, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
- Rohitesh Dhawan, CEO, International Council on Mining and Metals
- Tom Mitro, Senior Fellow, CCSI
- Jonathan Drimmer, Partner, Steptoe LLP
In association with:
Contacts:
