Since the early 1990s, at least 45 initiatives have been mounted to improve the environmental and social performance of the mining industry across the world. Many changes in the formal legal and regulatory systems have also been introduced. However, no systematic approach has been adopted to...

This paper develops a scenario-based model to identify and provide an array of electricity demand in Africa, and to derive them from the African power system of development. A system-based approach is performed by applying the scenario methodology developed by Schwartz in the context of the...

A major challenge for almost all extractives activity is that benefits accrue predominantly at the national level while disruptions are invariably highly localized close to the resource. Recently, extractives companies have intensified efforts to correct this imbalance. The aim of this paper is...

The authors explore the link between the systems approach to sustainability and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were formally adopted by the UN in 2015. The systems approach depicts sustainable development as the intersection of the goals attributed to three interlinked...

The motivation for sustainable development is universal but strides to achieve it have been mixed in the literature with some schools of thought's position that economic growth is anti-sustainable development. The crux of this study is to examine the coordinating role (as engine) of human...

In recognizing that women's participation and gender equity is a precondition for the achievement of acceptable development outcomes, extractives industry companies are increasingly making public commitments to integrating gender equality, inclusion, and women's economic empowerment into aspects...

This paper assesses biofuels technology readiness and provides foresight to biofuels development in Southern Africa. Efficient conversion pathways, coupled with biomass from waste or high-yielding energy crops, reduces both the costs of biofuels production and the environmental impacts....

A large mining project has the potential to be a partner in assisting local communities in their development efforts. Communities located in close proximity to a large mine have every right to expect that the project will benefit their community. Often, reality falls short of their expectations...

This paper assesses the interaction of international trade with climate policies, and the influence of trade on the implementation of SDG 13 (climate change). Although international trade contributes directly to GHG emissions, increased trade can help to achieve development goals in a...

The challenges of sustainable development are primarily ethical in nature. Guided by a ceaseless quest for profit, today's global economy is synonymous with vast amounts of exclusion, indignity, and environmental devastation. To succeed, therefore, the Sustainable Development Goals require...