Critical Minerals Innovation Forum

13th - 14th October 2026

London, UK

Susannah McLaren

Head of Responsible Sourcing and Sustainability

Cobalt Institute

Susannah is a global leader in responsible sourcing, sustainability, and business and human rights. With over 25 years’ international experience across industry associations, global corporations, and advisory roles in the extractives, engineering, manufacturing, and critical minerals sectors, she works with companies, governments, international organisations, and civil society to advance responsible sourcing, environmental and human rights due diligence, and sustainability across global mineral value chains.

She serves as Chair of the Board of the Global Battery Alliance and sits on several other bodies, including the DRC Critical Minerals & Industrialisation Forum, Mining Indaba Steering Committee, Drive Sustainability’s Drive+, and the OECD Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group.

Previously, Susannah held roles at the LBMA and Shift, with expertise in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD due diligence frameworks. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade with a FTSE100 global engineering company as Global Head of Social Sustainability.

Susannah's sessionsView full agenda

Day 1

Tuesday 13th October 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
10:00 - 10:30
Security of supply and operational reality: How to manage geopolitics and concentration risk 
UK Department for Business & Trade | Anglo American | Critical Minerals Association
Plenary
10:30 - 11:00
11:00 - 11:45
Visibility has a limit: An honest reckoning with what traceability can and cannot deliver 
Cisco | HSBC | Fairphone | Airbus | International Tin Association
Plenary
11:45 - 12:30
Plenary
12:30 - 13:30
13:30 - 14:15
13:30 - 14:15
Artisanal mining: Why responsible engagement so often falls short - and what it takes to make it stick 
Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) | Cobalt Institute | The Centre for Child Rights and Business
Breakout
14:15 - 15:00
15:30 - 16:15
16:15 - 17:00
17:00 - 18:00
Day 2

Wednesday 14th October 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
18:00 - 18:50
From commitment to action: Partnerships and business models closing the circular economy gap 
Vale Base Metals | AT&S | Volvo Construction Equipment | Ellen MacArthur Foundation | Global Electronics Association
Plenary
09:00 - 09:20
10:00 - 10:30
10:30 - 11:20
Nature’s social license: Is the human impact of biodiversity loss the business case for action? 
Rio Tinto | Hitachi Energy | Schneider Electric | Kenmare Resources | Shift
Plenary
11:20 - 12:20
12:20 - 13:50