1754 change is addressed through TCFD (Task Force on Climate Financial Disclosure). Both, climate and nature are critical factors for mining development business. Although, derisking is a necessary step for projects, my proposal is to ensure this process with biodiversity engagement in the footprint of the project, connecting with the local communities, local authorities and potential investment partners to generate a nature positive legacy. In fact, adding biodiversity as a variable in the mining business equation, a hidden variable that could enhance others and upgrade the value of the final product. 3. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE The mining industry is facing globally the main challenge to produce more minerals without sacrificing the quality of processes and preventing nature impacts that could damage structurally the environment where vulnerable communities live and provision their food and goods. To contribute as an innovative solution in this context, looking forward not only to complying with best practices and standards, but also exploring an attractive business case for sustainable finance, the proposal is replicating a successful experience of the natural gas industry: a biodiversity management system, adding a social management component so that stakeholders value biodiversity and nature. This is a win-win-win solution (or w3solution) since we focus on: i) Nature and Biodiversity valuation in the financial equation of the company, put their care as a priority. The expectation is a reduction of the interest rate due to the possibility of getting Sustainability Linked Loans (SLL)26. ii) Local stakeholders (communities, leaders, governments and institutions) will understand the asset they already have and can be used in their benefit directly through sustainable credits and bonds. iii) Investors (board members, shareholders, workers of the company) will have potential coinvestment that provides sustainable project life cycle and cost reduction. 4. METHODOLOGY OR APPROACH Inspired by the TNFD methodology, the LEAP approach brings location, evaluation, assessment and planning. For including biodiversity and nature factors in the lifecycle of an extractive/mining project, we will consider the experience of Camisea Project, for an adaptation focused on sustainable investment. The adapted steps are: a) Locate the area of potential implementation and identify the KPIs associated with investor requests for natural approach b) Evaluate the materiality and benefits for the company, the environment and the local communities (w3) c) Assessment and engagement with locals (communities and authorities) d) Planning and monitoring of road map implementation. This is adaptive monitoring, to make investment decision based on real time data. Each step is designed to state and develop internal capabilities initially in the company, but also in the stakeholders of interest and potentially affected (positively or negatively) by the project. Monitoring includes (biodiversity) materiality analysis, which is divided into financial materiality and social materiality which consider KPI´s identified during the process. Materiality is particularly relevant for companies when using indicators that support the reduction of future liabilities and reputation protection. Also, the contribution to external factors that might bring a benefit for the local economy/communities is a positive result of material assessment. 26 The financial materiality of biodiversity is empirically supported by recent transactions, such as Anglo American’s $100M sustainability-linked loan (Anglo American, 2022), where interest rate margins are tied to Net Positive Impact goals, and by academic findings suggesting that SLLs offer a 7-10% cost-of-capital advantage over traditional loans (SSRN, 2023).
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