Sustainability

Our Approach

Northern Star’s approach is to create sustainable and profitable value for our shareholders and other stakeholders through ongoing review and improvement of our environmental, social and governance performance. We aim to achieve this by identifying, managing and mitigating risks and impacts from our operations while delivering superior outcomes for our shareholders, our people, our communities, and our natural environment.

Our approach to sustainability is underpinned by our STARR Core Values and framed by our governance structures and systems. Our STARR Core Values, together with our Code of Conduct and our Group policies, are fundamental to the sustainability of our operations. They are integral to the working lives of all our employees and operations, and they define what it means to work at Northern Star. They are at the heart of our culture and the way we do business.

Our commitment to improving our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance is clearly demonstrated through the business wide ESG targets and KPIs that we set ourselves and through our ESG performance targets forming significant proportions of our leadership team’s remuneration.

By monitoring and tracking local to global ESG developments and priorities, we ensure that we remain informed and able to proactively respond to our stakeholders and the ESG issues important to them. We do this using a range of approaches including sector, industry and peer benchmarking and gap analyses, stakeholder and investor surveys, and employee ESG focus groups.

We have in the past engaged a leading strategic communications firm to benchmark our ESG performance against that of our peers and provide us with guidance for improving our performance and ESG disclosures. We also completed gap analyses of our sustainability reporting against the SASB and GRI Standards, and against the Climate Action 100+ disclosure indicators. As a result, we have significantly increased the performance metrics our reports and will continue to aim for best practice in our Sustainability Report disclosures.

We are committed to transparently reporting our ESG performance and to act on areas identified for improvement.

Lifecycle of a Mine

Disclosure

Northern Star regularly considers and reviews future disclosure opportunities, including reporting frameworks and standards for Company alignment. This ensures that the priorities of our stakeholders are considered when we define our material topics and update our approach.

To ensure that we continue to strengthen the quality and breadth of our disclosures, we regularly assess our voluntary reporting against the disclosure topics and gold industry material topics defined by key voluntary reporting standard and frameworks. This provides an understanding of our stakeholders' primary focus areas.

We then transparently disclose information which allow our stakeholders to assess and compare our sustainability performance.

Voluntary Alignments

Northern Star continuously reviews and assesses industry disclosure frameworks for applicability to our operations. We have voluntarily elected to report against several ESG frameworks to ensure transparency in our reporting processes, consistency and quality of data disclosures, relevance, and timeliness of content, and to ensure we address the priorities of our stakeholders.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards

The GRI Standards enable an organisation to report on their impacts on people, the environment, and the economy in a standardised manner. The aim is to increase an organisation's transparency in reporting and demonstrate its contribution to organisational sustainability.

The SASB Standards are aimed at connecting businesses and investors on the financial impacts of sustainability. Northern Star uses the Mining and Metals Sustainability Accounting Standard to guide its sustainability disclosures.

Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

The Financial Stability Board created the TCFD to improve and increase reporting of climate-related financial information. The reports produced satisfy stakeholders’ requirements for clear, detailed, and quality financial information on the impacts of climate change including potential risks and opportunities. Northern Star has disclosed in alignment with TCFD recommendations since 2019.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs)

The United Nations members developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries in partnership to achieve a more sustainable future. Northern Star identifies which activities and areas of our business align with the UN SDGs

In conjunction with these ratings, we have continued to focus on the quality and availability of our own ESG metrics to allow transparency in the information we provide to our stakeholders in the most up to date format. We use the outcomes of these assessments to change or improve how we disclose our performance in ESG and consider what further steps we can take which will benefit the business and improve our ESG performance. Being aligned to and reporting against the SASB, TCFD, CDP and GRI Standards, Northern Star is well placed to report against the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards when they are adopted through the ISSB's consolidation of the SASB, GRI and TCFD reporting requirements.

Materiality

Our materiality assessment incorporated consideration of impacts that are potentially material to our industry according to GRI and SASB; changing regulatory and socioeconomic influences; input from employee surveys and ESG engagement sessions; results from social impact assessments and community feedback, and commentary from anonymous investor interviews conducted by an independent third party.

The Company’s baseline Materiality Matrix forms the basis for an ongoing biannual review process that will be used to continuously improve our disclosures, strategic action plans, and stakeholder engagement programs.

Northern Star's FY23 Materiality Matrix

Our Stakeholders

Northern Star is committed to ongoing positive stakeholder collaboration and engagement. Our corporate governance framework adopted by the Board of Directors includes key policy documents which set out Northern Star’s standards for stakeholder engagement. Some of these are included in the Northern Star inductions completed by all employees and contractors, to guide all decisions on our sites.

Engaging with our stakeholders provides an opportunity to share information about our current and proposed operations, and to develop a deeper understanding and awareness of their needs and aspirations. Making informed and shared business decisions ensures that we continue to pursue mutually beneficial outcomes that increase the long-term sustainability of both Northern Star and the communities and regions in which we operate.

Stakeholder engagement happens simultaneously at many levels within the Company, and at corporate, regional and site level. We are active leaders and members in industry representative bodies, including:

An overview of our approach to engaging with our core stakeholder groups is provided in our Stakeholder Engagement Summary.

Our Sustainability Journey

Our Achievements FY18 – FY22

Climate change actions:

Commenced our phased alignment with TCFD recommendations
Establishment & expansion of Carosue Dam solar farm
Announced Net Zero Ambition for Scope 1 & 2 Emissions by 2050
Planned decarbonisation pathways to achieve 35% reduction in operational Scope 1 & 2 Emissions by 2030
Disclosure of climate change related risks & opportunities
Inclusion of Scope 3 Emissions reporting

Water & biodiversity stewardship actions:

Identified two butterfly species thought to be previously extinct in the Goldfields
Completed detailed environmental offset studies for Malleefowl
Potable water conservation program at KCGM, and thickener installations across several sites

Internal & External Disclosures:

Annual Sustainability Reporting with reference to GRI and SASB
Improved Donations and Sponsorship programme and annual budget increase
ESG metrics included in the STI, LTI and KPIs
Annual Modern Slavery Statement
Annual Workplace Gender and Equality Report
Annual Corporate Governance Statement
Performance Data Tables
Integrated GRI, SASB, UNSDG index

Strengthened ESG related policies, standards and performance including the release of:

Climate Change Policy
Human Rights Policy
Supplier Code of Conduct

Benchmarking and alignment activities:

Alignment with the UNSDGs
Benchmarking of our ESG activities

Focus on ESG in our supply chain through:

Supply chain risk analysis project commenced
Ongoing modern slavery surveys
External audits of designated suppliers’ facilities
Release of our Modern Slavery Response Protocol

Strengthened our internal ESG resources and capabilities through the:

Recruitment of a Chief Technical Officer to increase sustainable operational efficiencies
Recruitment of a Group Manager - Audit & Risk
Establishment of a dedicated ESG Engagement team
Expansion of our internal environmental team
Rollout of new Modern Slavery Awareness
Training, Safety Leadership Training, new Cultural Awareness Training

Increasing our engagement with key stakeholder groups:

Stakeholder materiality assessment
Performance data tables
Participation in CDP, DJSI (S&P Global), Sustainalytics, VE Connect, MSCI, and ISS
Employee ESG focus groups
ESG questions included in our employee culture survey
Priority focus on physical and mental wellbeing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

Our Achievements Plans for FY23 – FY30+

Climate change planned actions:

Q1 of FY23 we are forecasting an increase in power consumption demand at our Thunderbox Operations as a result of an expansion project.
Consideration for this additional demand has formed part of our 35% Scope 1 and 2 Emissions Reduction target by 2030
Q3 of FY24 we anticipate commissioning approximately 20 MW of renewables behind the meter (BTM) at Jundee Operations
Q2 of FY25 we anticipate commissioning approximately 20 MW of renewables at Pogo Operations, either via grid or grid renewable energy
Q4 of FY25 we anticipate commissioning approximately 20 MW of renewables BTM at our Thunderbox Operations
Q2 of FY26 we anticipate commissioning approximately 35-70 MW of wind renewables at KCGM Operations via the grid
Q3 of FY27 we anticipate commissioning approximately 65-100 MW renewables project BTM at our KCGM Operations
TCFD alignment continues
Financial qualification of our climate change related risks
Investigations into mobile fleet Emission Reductions
Establishment of high-quality carbon offsets

Water & biodiversity stewardship actions:

Additional water conservation programs across sites
Establishment of environmental offsets (malleefowl)
Funding research on biodiversity initiatives

Continue internal & external disclosures through:

Sustainability Reporting aligned with ISSB recommendations
Continued community investment Programs
Ongoing use of ESG KPIs in STI and LTI remuneration
Annual Modern Slavery Statement
Annual Workplace Gender and Equality Report
Annual Corporate Governance Statement

Focus on ESG in our supply chain through:

Responsible sourcing & improve ESG supplier screening
Ongoing modern slavery risk analysis and audits of suppliers
Increasing Indigenous procurement in our supply chain

Benchmarking and alignment activities:

Preparation for ISSB proposed consolidation of the SASB, GRI and TCFD reporting requirements
Ongoing benchmarking & improvements of our ESG performance

Strengthening our internal ESG resources capabilities through:

Implementing additional systems around HR, ESG engagement and risk management

Increasing our ESG communication internally and externally through:

New website and intranet ESG information
STARR Core Actions program
Ongoing focus on employee health and wellbeing
Continued focus on safety, critical risk controls, hazard identification and control, and safety leadership

Our Future Plans Beyond FY30+

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Transition program of mobile fleets to low carbon options as it becomes commercially available, such as alternate fuels or battery technology
Emissions Reduction planning continues for grid connected sites as grid greening progresses
Refer to Net Zero Ambition for Scope 1 & 2 GHG Emissions by 2050
Refer to 2030 Pathway Emissions Reduction Planned Projects

Sustainability

Our Approach

Sustainability Reporting

Climate Change

Environmental Stewardship

Safety Performance

People Performance

Social Performance

Governance, Ethics & Transparency

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