Towards system change in mining? Rule maps for discussing sustainable futures

There is an expected acceleration of some mining activities to supply the materials underpinning renewable and digital transitions. In this context, the question of what a sustainable mining system might look like is increasingly discussed. We outline a rules-based perspective from the Deep Transitions Lab focussed on assessing sociotechnical system change in mining.

Published on

2025

Based on our experience engaging with financial investors, we argue that a rule-based methodology can be an important tool to stimulate thinking about more radical change in the directionality of the mining system, helping shift conversations towards addressing persistent features of unsustainability that require system change interventions rather than optimisation. The rule mapping tool can challenge existing practices and stimulate imaginative thinking about what a sustainable mining system might look like.

The paper:

Contributes to ongoing conversations in extractive industries and society on how to envisage sustainability in the mining system.

Puts forward a novel sociotechnical multi-dimensional rules-based perspective from the deep transitions lab to distinguish between system optimisation and system change.

Presents two ‘rule maps’ covering the rules constituting an archetypal unsustainable mining system and a future sustainable mining system.

Argues that this approach is a means of getting towards ‘deeper conversations’ with stakeholders, opening up discussions towards more fundamental and radical questions regarding the future of mining and what needs to change.

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Authors: Phil Johnstone, Janset Nil Genç

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