Conflict Translates Environmental and Social Risk into Business Cost by Franks et al. (2014)

Franks et al. (2014) demonstrate that environmental and social conflicts in mining can delay projects by years and drive up costs by up to 40%. Their study highlights that these risks are not inevitable—companies can reduce disruptions by proactively addressing community concerns and environmental hotspots. Embedding social risk tools, grievance mechanisms, and transparency initiatives directly improves project timelines and investor outcomes.