GHGm President Dr. Steven B. Young was invited to two stakeholder meetings related to social and environmental responsibility in the supply-chain of metals in electronics. The Extractives Stakeholders Sessions were organized by Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), leading electronics industry groups concerned about environmental and social issues in their supply-chains. The meetings were attended by a cross-section of non-profit, governmental, mining industry and other stakeholders. Much of the focus is on the sustainability and human rights circumstances of mining and metal operations in developing countries.
The meeting objectives were:
- To share progress made by EICC and GeSI and prospective goals on improving social and environmental conditions in the electronics supply chain, including summary feedback from Nov. 4th meeting;
- To gather input from participants on current strategy in order to further refine goals and activities for 2009; and
- To identify learnings from current initiatives and opportunities for collaboration
Steve presented GHGm’s study on Social and Environmental Responsibility in Metals Supply to the Electronic Industry. The study objectives were to understand how:
- aluminum (Al), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), gold (Au), palladium (Pd) and tin (Sn) are mined, recycled, purchased and used within the electronic industry
- members of GeSI and EICC can effectively influence social and environmental issues associated with mining of metals used in electronic products.