Important environmental social governance risks in potential phosphorite mining in Estonia

Abstract

The country`s national resources must be used sustainably, considering the environmental, social, and economic aspects. Estonia's potential reserves of phosphorite are among the largest in Europe, but its extraction has been a historically sensitive issue. The current study was focused on Estonians` perceptions about the potential extraction and processing of phosphorite in four stakeholder groups: the local community, the business sector, policymakers and environmental activists. An Environmental Social Governance (ESG)-risks based survey was conducted that examined the significant environmental, social and governance risks that stakeholders would like to know if such production exists. The results obtained reveal that environmental risks were more important and social risks were less important. In the cross-stakeholder comparison, environmental risks were most important for the local community and environmental activists, social risks were most important for the local community and less important for environmental activists, with the business sector valuing the importance of governance risks the most. Policymakers had more or less a similar assessment in all ESG categories. To address the multifaceted challenges of phosphorite uptake, the authors suggest creating a framework that will act as a guideline for policymakers in the future on phosphorite resource sustainable use.