Electronics industry takes next step towards sustainable metals
This week, the electronics industry shows its commitment to address issues with the mining of their metals, and takes makeITfair’s recommendations one step forward. On November 19th, the electronics industry will organize a ‘Stakeholder Engagement Session’ in Washington D.C., where makeITfair will stress the need for concrete measures to address worker’s rights, community impacts and environmental damage. Today SOMO published a report that offers concrete suggestions to address these issues. Youth organisation Time to Turn will also hand over collected signatures from concerned young people, demanding more sustainable electronic products.
makeITfair’s earlier research reports have shown pollution, child labour, contribution to armed conflicts, and community displacements as some of the problems during the mining of metals used by the electronics industry. The industry currently uses 35% of the world’s tin and 25% of the world’s cobalt. As a follow up of the round table organised by makeITfair in January 2008, and its List of Principles published in April 2008, electronics companies have since taken first steps to address these issues, acknowledging that they bear a responsibility to do so. Electronics companies are now organising a Stakeholder Engagement Session to present their results and plans for 2009. The aim is to collect feedback from invited NGOs as well as from representatives of mining initiatives and other end-use sectors. Stakeholders include representatives from electronics companies, consumer organisations, NGOs, as well as representatives from developing countries, including southern partners involved in the makeITfair project.
At this meeting, makeITfair will be stressing the urgent need for concrete action to improve conditions at mining sites in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and South Africa. In Washington, youth organisation Time to Turn will be handing over collected signatures to the representatives from mobile phone and electronics products. It will also show a short movie to illustrate the involvement of Dutch youngsters in the call for more sustainable electronics. The movie is about the campaign Time to Turn organised on 25 October in Delft, The Netherlands, when a phone-free day was organised to make youngsters aware of the unfair production of metals in mobile phones.
One of the supply chains that will receive ample attention in Washinhton is the chain of Platinum Group Metals. The new SOMO report A Sputtering Process: An overview of the Platinum Group Metals supply chain, published by SOMO today, calls to increase sustainability in specific metal supply chains. SOMO researcher Tim Steinweg: “The PGM supply chain can be characterized as a chain with high levels of corporate concentration. This has large effects on the force fields within the chain, as there are some players with large buying power that can be used to call for more sustainability throughout the supply chain. Regardless of potential difficulties in traceability, all companies have a responsibility in creating a more transparent and sustainable supply chain. This report identifies two channels to achieve this; a proactive approach to supply chain responsibility, and increased use of the possibilities for sustainable recycling.”
