techUK
Printable version

Proposal for a public private partnership on responsible mineral sourcing

As negotiations on conflict minerals continue, could an initiative that is being explored in the side-lines be the factor that makes a real difference?

The thrust of the Regulation currently being negotiated by the European Parliament, Council and the Commission is primarily based on the principle of due diligence, that companies should undertake voluntary investigations to ensure that the minerals and metals are produced in a way that respects human rights and do not contribute to conflict.

Under the OECD framework for carrying out this due diligence, companies are encouraged to mitigate risks by adopting and implementing a risk management plan that may result in a decision to continue trade throughout the course of risk management measures, temporarily suspend trade while pursuing risk management options or disengage with a supplier after failed attempts at mitigation or if the risks are deemed not feasible or unacceptable.

To date, the US’s Dodd Frank Act is perhaps the most widely known legislative response to this issue, requiring all companies registered on the US stock market to reveal their supply chains to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when sourcing minerals from the eastern DRC or neighbouring countries. But critics have argued that this has prompted the market to move from “conflict free”, to “Congo free” contributing to, rather than alleviating, the very conflicts they set out to address.

In an open letter, 70 academics, writers and observers highlight the issues on the ground, stating that setting up the required systems and procedures to regularly access and audit thousands of artisanal mining sites in isolated and hard to reach locations spread across an area twice the size of France “would be a challenge for any government. In the eastern DRC, where road infrastructure is poor to non-existent and state capacity desperately low, the enormity of the task is hard to overstate.”

And it’s this that the Dutch government think might be something that can be addressed through a new public private partnership, supporting capacity building and helping to identify regions of conflict to target. It is early days and some thinking needs to develop in terms of the focus of the partnership, finance and its governance, but this could be the genuine concrete action to accompany the EU due diligence regulation that is needed.

A similar initiative, the Public Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA), brought different stakeholders such as government bodies, industry and civil society groups together, and has successfully provided funding and coordination support to organizations working within the DRC and Great Lakes region of Central Africa to develop verifiable conflict-free supply chains; align due diligence programmes and practices; encourage responsible sourcing from the region; promote transparency; and strengthen and enhance in-region civil society and governmental capacity.

The Dutch government is no stranger to supply chain challenges and has an impressive track record in this space having delivered supply chain initiatives on palm oil, soy, cocoa, tin and a range of other commodities through itsSustainable Trade Initiative.

It convened the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to tackle deforestation in South East Asia, which has delivered impressive results. With plans to supply all of Europe’s demand for palm oil from certified sources by 2020, it has obtained the support of all of the UK’s supermarkets and major food producers. Last November, Defra figures suggested that the UK is on track to meet its target to source 100% of its palm oil from credibly certified sources. Of course the root issues are very different, but there are a lot of parallels and credible experience from schemes such as RSPO.

The Dutch government is interested in hearing from companies that may want to participate. If you are interested please do get in touch or get involved in techUK's Sustainable Supply Chain Group.

 

Channel website: http://www.techuk.org/

Share this article

Latest News from
techUK

Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story