Sustainability: a price Australia can afford to pay?

Australia has the raw materials for an energy revolution, China has the refineries, Europe is top in regulations, and the United States has the economic and political muscle.

That was the message for investors, developers and governments at a recent mining conference.

Australia's mining industry prides itself on safer working conditions and higher environmental standards that make the nation a top choice to supply the world's electric car makers and equipment manufacturers.

But former diplomat and trade negotiator Namali Mackay, now head of the Critical Minerals Association of Australia, challenged mining bosses on that assumption.

And she urged decision-makers not to believe critics who say high environmental, social and governance standards are holding Australia back.

"I don't think we can afford to put ESG aside," she told the Paydirt Battery Minerals Conference in Perth.

"Yes, we're under a lot of competition, particularly in the current climate, where we're being priced out of the market, but critical minerals are getting their day in the sun because of the energy transition."

Ms Mackay questioned the nation's sustainability standards, saying it was easy to talk about but hard to put into practice.

"We don't have child labour, we have some basic fundamentals that are outstanding ... but there is a lot of work to do."

The social or community impact of mining was harder to gauge than the carbon footprint of resource extraction, she noted.

"And it's the first to erupt if things go wrong," Ms Mackay said.

"The social aspect is huge, and one in which we need to do a lot more work with Indigenous elders ... it's unique to Australia and complex."

The focus on ESG credentials is not new, but it is coming to a head as a plethora of voluntary industry codes of practice coalesce into international standards for workers and bosses to live by.

Analyst Susan Zou said there was a "critical event" in the year she joined Rystad Energy when Amnesty released a report exposing the grim reality of child labour in cobalt mines in the Congo, and the bloodstains on the world's leading brands of laptops, phones and batteries.

The largest producer of refined cobalt is China, which continues to import vast amounts of raw resources from the Congo and other African nations for processing and supply to global manufacturers.

Pressure is growing for markets to quantify the premium for materials free of forced labour or environmental destruction.

Battery manufacturers, especially those in South Korea supplying western equipment makers, are "desperate for these compliant materials", Ms Zou said.

"It's just they don't know how much more they should pay," she said.

Rules for traceability of materials will be key, according to Phoebe Whattoff from sustainability software and consultancy firm Minviro.

Life-cycle assessments can quantify the environmental impacts of producing a gadget and comply with globally recognised standards for trusted goods and services.

Tracing the standards of critical raw materials in the manufacturing of a battery has become vital amid exponential growth in electric vehicles.

Europe is developing a battery passport and EV batteries produced in China since late 2018 have had a unique serial number known as a battery ID.

From 2025, the carbon footprint needs to be declared for every electric vehicle being sold into the European Union market.

"A battery being sold into the EU is going to include its scope three emissions, and if you're a lithium, nickel or cobalt producer - or anything else - you are that battery's scope three emissions," Ms Whattoff explained.

A carbon footprint threshold will come into effect in 2028.

Most of the carbon footprint of a Telsa battery, for example, sits in the nickel supply chain, and a battery or EV being sold into the EU will need to lower their carbon footprint below the threshold.

"Just last year, you've got European car makers actually choosing to pay a small premium from South32, which is Australia based," Ms Whattoff said.

At the time, South32 CEO Graham Kerr said an extra $10 to $15 a tonne was being paid for "green aluminium" to cut the car makers' carbon footprint - before it was legally required.

The call for green premiums for battery materials, specifically nickel, have grown louder as cheap supplies flood the market and force Australian producers to mothball loss-making operations.

"The current supply chain has been dominated by Indonesia, which is not very clean," Ms Whattoff said.

A green premium market would allow nickel producers listed on the London Metal Exchange to classify and promote their ESG characteristics.

To meet the demands of upcoming regulations, battery manufacturers are trying to diversify outside China and find cleaner methods because of the intense carbon footprint of these materials.

Australian lithium miner Pilbara Minerals has partnered with technology company Calix to make lower-carbon lithium salts by using an electric process instead of the conventional coal-fired kiln calcination process.

"They managed an 80 per cent impact reduction, which is pretty significant if you're looking at selling to a downstream battery manufacturer who is then wanting to sell their product into the EU," Ms Whattoff said.

Trillion-dollar subsidies in the United States have triggered a rush to expand American manufacturing, and Australia is keen to cash in with its own Future Made in Australia scheme.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act in the US, a manufacturer has to prove their carbon footprint and have a decarbonisation plan, so it's better to find the hotspots and fix them at the development stage.

Several weeks ago, Mineral Resources and Albermarle sold Australian lithium carbonate at auction for an undisclosed premium.

"Why would the consumer be willing to pay a three to four per cent premium for the same materials? The answer is obvious," Ms Zou said.