Section 1: Message from the CEO

Welcome to the Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing Report 2022.

You’ll notice a name change for this year’s report – the inclusion of ‘Sustainability’ – which highlights adding climate as a critical part of responsibly sourcing precious metals.

We are also part of the call to action for an industry transition to net zero carbon. This means working with the entire value chain to start the net zero carbon transition for the precious metals industry.

With that in mind, we are excited to jointly launch the industry-wide Sustainability Declaration at the upcoming Global Precious Metals Conference in Lisbon – so stay tuned for more information.

Ensuring Market Integrity

This year, one of the key hot topics in the industry has been how to deal with Russian gold and international sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. Our prompt decision to suspend six Russian Good Delivery List (GDL) Refiners on 7 March was well received and ensured not only the integrity of the market, but also its orderly conduct. Market confusion arose as participants began rejecting Russian gold, without consistency on dates.

Crucial to our ability to quickly respond and set a clear date of 7 March was our independent governance. The decision was taken by the Board’s independent Sub Group and supported by recent legal updates of our Rulebooks. Acting carefully and swiftly also meant that when further international Russian gold sanctions came on 26 July, the market was able to respond smoothly, with support from LBMA.

We will continue to liaise with Members, governments and regulators to support implementation of these and any future measures. Given the current political and economic headwinds, it is likely that more work will be necessary and we stand ready to support this.

The Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing Report 2022 provides a thorough overview of the achievements and challenges of the Responsible Sourcing Programme as well as relevant strategic initiatives.