Drive Sustainability and the Responsible Minerals Initiative announced the release of a new study examining responsible sourcing of materials in the automotive and electronics industries. The report, Material Change, was commissioned by Drive Sustainability and the Responsible Minerals Initiative and completed by The Dragonfly Initiative (TDI).
Worldwide, businesses increasingly seek solutions to shared development problems and are responding to calls from regulatory bodies, investors, consumers and civil society stakeholders to transparently address adverse impacts associated with their supply chains. Material Change is intended as a resource to better understand the potential environmental, social and governance risks associated with the global production of materials commonly used by the automotive and electronics industries.
The report assesses the importance of 37 materials to automotive and electronics industries and evaluates environmental, social and governance risks for those materials at industry levels. The study recognizes that businesses and entire industries working together can catalyse lasting change to improve peoples’ lives and reduce pressures on vulnerable ecosystems in resource-producing countries.
“This study represents the first deliverable of the Raw Materials Observatory for Drive Sustainability’s partners and is setting the basis for our future collaboration to enhance sustainability in our supply chain as we are committed to make our vision a reality,” said Stefan Crets, Executive Director of CSR Europe, the organization that facilitates the work of Drive Sustainability.
“This study is a great starting point to help companies identify and prioritize salient social, environmental and governance risks that apply more specifically to their supply chains. We consider this report as an opportunity to help us further understand raw material supply chains and to strengthen the collective engagement with our stakeholders to drive positive impact,” said Rob Lederer, Executive Director of the Responsible Business Alliance.
Specialist business advisory firm The Dragonfly Initiative completed the research and analysis for the study, which includes profiles for some of the most commonly found materials in the product components of the electronics and automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers.
The Dragonfly Initiative CEO, Assheton Carter observes, “One of the biggest obstacles to setting and implementing strategies for responsible sourcing is accessing reliable and current data and analysis. Material Change kick-starts that process by presenting relevant industry-level information on materials to enable a better contextual understanding of their importance and of the issues associated with their production.”
The results of the study will help inform the action plans of Drive Sustainability and the Responsible Minerals Initiative members as they strive for positive impacts on upstream communities. Furthermore, it forms the basis for further collaboration opportunities between RMI and Drive, in particular in the area of engagement and capacity building in mineral supply chains.