1706 LOCALIZING THE SDGS FOR MINING PROJECT EVALUATION: EVIDENCE, GAPS, AND OPPORTUNITIES M. Abbasi1, *P. Zangeneh1, S. Heshami1, D. Hiam-Galvez2 1Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada (*Presenting author: pouya.zangeneh@ucalgary.ca) 2Resolve, Vancouver, BC, Canada ABSTRACT The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, provide a comprehensive framework for addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges. The mining sector plays a complex role within this framework. While the sector contributes to economic growth, employment, and infrastructure development, it is also linked to significant environmental degradation, social disruption, and governance challenges. As countries and companies increasingly localize the SDGs by adapting global and national objectives to regional and sector-specific contexts, the mining industry faces unique challenges stemming from its extractive nature, regulatory variability, and frequent operations in ecologically and socially sensitive areas. This paper systematically reviews the current application of the SDGs across the project lifecycle in mining projects, synthesizes the practical benefits and reported outcomes of SDG localization, and identifies which SDGs are most frequently prioritized or under-integrated, as well as the factors contributing to these disparities. The paper proposes a decision-making pathway to integrate SDG localization into mining project assessment, risk management, monitoring, and closure, thereby boosting site-level credibility. It suggests future research directions, including developing project-level SDG appraisal frameworks, improving site data and indicators with spatial and remote methods, validating across governance contexts, and involving local stakeholders in indicator design to align global SDGs with local priorities. KEYWORDS SDGs; localization; mining sector; sustainable development; project appraisal 1. INTRODUCTION Contemporary mining projects face increased scrutiny and elevated expectations. The global mining sector is undergoing substantial transformation driven by population growth, urbanization, and the accelerating global energy transition. While mining remains essential for supplying critical minerals required for a low-carbon economy, mining operations are inherently intrusive, geographically immobile, and frequently situated in environmentally and socially sensitive areas (Li et al., 2024; Negrete et al., 2024). The rapid adoption of clean energy technologies has heightened demand for minerals such as copper, lithium, and cobalt, thereby exerting significant pressure on supply chains and the communities where extraction occurs (Hassanpourroudbeneh & Zangeneh, 2026; Li et al., 2024; Liu et al., 2022). As a result, project success is now assessed not only by production output or financial performance but also by environmental outcomes, social acceptance, and governance standards throughout the entire project lifecycle, including exploration, operation, closure, and post-mining land use (Dmitrieva & Solovyova, 2024; Haywood et al., 2026). The concept of “social license to operate” (SLO) has emerged as a critical business risk, since inadequate management of non-technical risks can lead to conflict, costly operational delays, reputational damage, and reduced investor confidence (Pedro et al., 2017; Perdeli Demirkan et al., 2021a). The impacts of mining are fundamentally local, visible, and enduring. Environmental degradation, water scarcity, land disturbance, ecosystem disruption, and negative effects on health and livelihoods manifest differently across
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