ZIA publishes its third annual ESG benchmarking report

November 2023

The Zircon Industry Association (ZIA) has published its third industry-wide Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) benchmarking summary report. This annual exercise, now using five years of members’ data, shows the industry is making progress against 20 ESG key performance indicators.

With regards to environmental indicators the data show:

• Decrease in average number of environmental reportable incidents
• Increase in average percentage of renewable energy of total energy consumption
• Decrease in average water withdrawn
• Rising trend in energy intensity
• Increasing trend in water recycling initiatives
• More than 80% of companies have waste recycling initiatives
• Increasing land area rehabilitated

With regards to social indicators the data show:

• Over 124 million man-hours worked with zero fatalities
• Continued improvement in Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)
• Increased number of sites certified to OSHAS 18001/ISO 45001
• Increase in female employment rates
• Increase in number of differently-abled employees

With regards to governance indicators the data show:

• A low and decreasing number of lawsuits or government actions
• Increase in establish ESG and good governance policies

ZIA Executive Director, Dr Keven Harlow, said:

“We continue to see ESG improvements across the zircon and zirconia industries. Safety is of the utmost importance so we are delighted that, across participating ZIA members, over 124 million man-hours were worked with no fatalities, along with a continued reduction in LTIFR.

“These data offer evidence that environmental factors are increasingly important, with continued improvements in many areas including: reduced number of environmental reportable incidents, increased use of renewable energy, decreased average amount of water withdrawn and increased water and waste recycling initiatives.

“This annual initiative continues to offer an independent, credible source of industry ESG data. Participating ZIA members receive a full report, enabling them to benchmark ESG performance against the industry average.”

Notes to editors

1. Download the ZIA ESG summary report.
2. As a non-profit organisation, ZIA works on behalf of its members to develop and promote zircon, zirconia, and derivative products by advocating the benefits of their widespread application in today's world.
3. ZIA has a strict Code of Conduct and Antitrust policy which applies to all ZIA activities.

For further information, please contact:
Claire Caton / media@zircon-association.org