The gold sector must promote the yellow metal's merits as a climate change-related safe-haven asset and point to the broader benefits its mines can have on nearby communities, gold industry executives said June 15 at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference.

The sector knows gold does not directly support the energy transition the same way as lithium, copper and cobalt. It is a precious metal with relatively minor industrial uses that is largely traded and hoarded as a financial asset and bought as jewelry. But with investors and consumers focused on decarbonization and environmental sustainability, gold must create its own climate narrative.

"In the shift ... we're going to have new technologies, new industries, new companies," Susan McGeachie, head of the BMO Climate Institute, said on a conference panel. "As we're investing or financing new deals, we're looking for the extent to which those deals were able to bring in people who have been excluded from those economic opportunities."

But gold, while unlikely to ever top lists of important net-zero metals, is still relevant to the energy transition and climate change. The metal benefits communities that depend on mining operations, which are often in remote areas where job opportunities can be slim, gold executives said.

"To understand the broader role that these metals play is really important," World Gold Council CFO Terry Heymann said from the sidelines of the conference. "To focus everything down to a single lens is dangerous."

In particular, gold executives pointed to gold's traditional role as a safe-haven asset. Worsening climate change will raise global economic uncertainty and increase financial risks in the longer term, adding allure to gold in the financial sector, they said.

"Climate risk is a huge risk that is coming and individuals and institutions need to think about it," Heymann said. "And for anybody who is thinking about how they manage their financial security through what is likely going to be, I'm afraid to say, a very unsettling time ... gold is going to play a role."

The gold sector also has broader benefits for people that depend on the industry, in particular those living near mines in poorer regions, mining executives said.

"The important thing for gold is to recognize its role in society, and to be prepared to articulate and argue the reason why gold has a meaningful role to play in society," Newmont Corp. President and CEO Tom Palmer said on a panel, underscoring economic benefits from gold mining.

Heymann, while moderating a June 15 panel discussion on the gold mining industry and environmental, social and governance issues, took a similar view amid the push to decarbonize the sector.

"Undoubtedly, that move to net zero is really important," Heymann said. "But at the same time ... to narrow the scope solely to carbon emissions, is probably the wrong way to think about it."

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