What Happened at the 2020 International Forum on Sustainable Mineral Supply Chains?
The International Forum on Sustainable Mineral Supply Chains 2020, hosted last month in China, was the first high-level event on mineral supply chain governance issues initiated by the Chinese industry. Focused on the "New Era Rule Reform and Governance Improvement", the conference brought together opinion leaders and important stakeholders from the governments, standards organizations, international organizations, companies along the mineral supply chain, consulting and auditing agencies, and non-governmental organizations.
The Executive Director of CSR Europe, Stefan Crets, joined the dialogue with other recognised Thought Leaders to highlight the challenges and opportunities lying ahead in responsible sourcing for the cobalt value-chain.
“To make sourcing of raw materials more sustainable we need to shift our energy and resources from standard setting, compliance, and audits to practical engagement with local stakeholders” - Stefan Crets
Standards and legal requirements alone will not be able to solve the complex human-rights and environmental issues currently existing in many countries around the world. Against this backdrop, in our recent Reflection Paper “For A Coherent and Integrated Approach to Due Diligence”, we advocate for a smart mix of measures to accompany a mandatory EU law on due diligence.
The challenge ahead is how to ensure the effective implementation of due diligence processes. In other words, how can a company make sure that its efforts have a real positive impact on the workers in the supply chain, the environment, local communities, and society at large?
From our experience, the answer lies in collective, coordinated action on the ground, aimed at scaling up sustainable solutions that meet the expectations of national, European, and international principles and norms. It is therefore the entire system that has to mobilise and not only the individual company: all stakeholders are called to tackle the issues at hand and to build back better.
For more information:
View our Agenda of Events 2021
Contact Stefan Crets, Executive Director