In 2007, UK NGOs ACTSA, Christian Aid and SCIAF published the joint report Undermining Development? – Copper Mining in Zambia, which questioned theVedanta mining company’s corporate social responsibility record.This was followed in early 2008 by an email campaign asking Vedanta’s chief executive officer (CEO) to ensure that its Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines would not oppose the government’s new mining tax regime, which required companies operating in the country to pay fairer levels of taxes and royalties. Thousands of postcards and emails were also sent to Standard Life Investments, one of Vedanta’s biggest investors at the time.
This campaigning resulted in a meeting between ACTSA, Christian Aid and SCIAF representatives and Vedanta’s CEO. Several days after this meeting, Vedanta came out in public to confirm that it would not challenge the new tax measures, which was critical for Zambia as its subsidiary Konkola accounted for around 50 per cent of copper production in the country at that time.The combination of public pressure and private lobbying was hugely effective in this case.