The mined commodities that underpin modern life and the low-carbon transition, from copper in wind turbines to iron ore in steel and lithium in batteries, must first be extracted from the ground. That reality creates an inherent sustainability tension: the same commodities that enable electrification, infrastructure and energy storage can also generate carbon emissions, disturb land, draw on water resources and affect the communities living alongside mining assets. Within the mining industry, these sustainability outcomes can vary widely. In our view, this nuance is best assessed through a bottom-up framework that links each mined commodity to its real-world end use and evaluates how well each company manages the impacts of its operations.