Gold and climate change An introduction 03 Gold is highly valuable. When analysed on a per US$ value basis, gold has the amongst the lowest emissions intensity of all metals and mined products. Gold and the carbon footprint of investment portfolios A wide range of investors now own gold and there is a 1. Overview of Mining and its Impacts1 Proposed mining projects vary according to the type of metals or materials to be extracted from the earth. The majority of proposed mining projects involve the extraction of ore deposits such as copper, nickel, cobalt, gold, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and platinum. The environmental gold mining can also be significant in some countries. However, as previously noted, the impacts of artisanal and small-scale mining are outside of the scope of this report.