The 2024 Lundin Foundation Sustainability Summit held from May 25th to the 30th in Sweden, brought together 55 sustainability and community engagement professionals from 14 countries to share good practices, resources, and challenges across the Lundin Group of companies.
The theme of this year’s summit was Legacy – being responsible stewards of natural resources and ensuring the benefits of mining are shared and sustainable for current and future generations. Throughout the Summit, we explored the social and environmental challenges, opportunities, and trade-offs involved in creating a long-lasting positive impact.
We heard from leaders across the Lundin Group, participated in practical problem-solving exercises, and shared experiences from our diverse contexts. We also spent time in the field at the Zinkgruvan mine and the surrounding Askersund community, witnessing the positive legacy that has been created at one of the oldest operating mines in Europe.
Key Takeaways:
- Partnership is the New Leadership: The importance of partnerships was woven throughout the entire summit, from roundtables and discussions to visits at site and in the community. Partnerships help to enhance the quality of relationships with community stakeholders, maximize benefits, manage impacts more effectively, and achieve goals that we would not be able to achieve alone.
- Sustainability at the Heart of Operations: Panel discussions focused on the importance of embedding sustainability initiatives into existing business processes and demonstrating how they create or protect value for the business. Generating buy-in at every level of the organization helps to ensure that sustainability considerations become a fundamental part of how an organization operates and helps to foster a culture where sustainability is ingrained in decision-making.
- Community Development through Economic Diversification: Many participants were inspired by the Re: think program and the long-lasting positive impact that the Zinkgruvan mine has made on the Askersund municipality. Looking to the future, many participants wanted to examine how they could take elements of this program, tailored to the specific needs of the communities in which they operate.
- Embracing Innovation: Companies that take advantage of new technologies and explore novel solutions, from AI to re-mining tailings, will find unique ways to generate value in the face of change. Summit participants shared that seeing innovation in practice throughout the summit was both inspiring and a catalyst for change.
The Lundin Sustainability Summit delivered meaningful lessons to drive us all to continuously improve and become more resilient in an increasingly complex business environment.
