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Children sneaking into the mud with heavy bags, supervisors slapping them. At the beginning of this year the American news channel CBS News broadcast a penetrating report on Congolese cobalt mines – the rare mineral contained in the batteries of mobile phones and laptops.
Immediately after the show, big tech companies like Apple and Tesla protected the guidelines and standards for their suppliers. Child labor, environmental pollution or exploitation is absolutely not allowed. But, they also admitted immediately, the chain of rare metals and minerals is very opaque. Sometimes there are six intermediate parts between the mine and the manufacturer. And even if you know which company supplies your molybdenum or terbium, you often do not know how this company treats workers and keeps the environment clean.
The new index of the mining industry should allow the mining industry to see coal, metals and other improve minerals. The index, composed of thirty major mining companies, will be presented this Wednesday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. The ministry is sponsoring this index for 1.5 million euros, the first of its kind. Other parties, such as the Swiss state and some aid organizations, donated the remaining 2 million. The following index should be published in two years.
Read also: The Congo boycotts its own donor conference and wants the Netherlands to stay away
73 indicators [19659002] And what is there? Anyone who accesses the publicly available index is aware that the British mining company AngloAmerican, with more than 78,000 employees and mines around the world, is doing relatively well. The company, which produces platinum, diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore and coal, is located in the six zones in which it is ranked in the top three. The Uzbek public company Navoi (uranium, gold) and the Chinese Zijin (gold, copper, tin) are doing very poorly. The site reports that this is mainly due to a lack of information or because no evidence has been found that the company is attracted to such things as rights violations. # 39; man.
The mining index includes 30 private, listed and state-owned mining companies which together own 800 mines worldwide. The list covers about a quarter of the production of minerals and metals
The index marks six areas: Does the company do business ethically? Does he care about the community in the neighborhood? How are the working conditions? How does he care about the environment and the climate? Does it promote the economic development of the country? And does it make "life cycle management": should we make good intentions in all business decisions?
Isabelle van Notten, consultant for aid organizations, is one of the founders of the index. What did she notice? On the telephone: "The companies we researched on average have a low level of working conditions, which surprises us.We believed that working conditions would be relatively less bad than the environment and well-being. Local residents For more than a century, there have been laws and regulations on working conditions, but not for other issues Businesses have a good policy on paper, but there is little to see about the effect. "
Companies are rated on 73 indicators. Researchers do this on the basis of publicly available documents, such as annual reports and reports, and on the basis of information provided by the company itself upon request.
The "leverage" of the index
Van Notten is not afraid that this gives an image too positive. "The scores are not based on claims, the information provided by the companies must support them, and the documentation can be seen by everyone, whatever they say, everything comes to the site. are not doing well, we are waiting for news from local NGOs and unions.We include this answer in the 2020 index. "
The list is far from complete. What is missing, for example, are the many illegal mines, where working conditions are often poor.
The consumer, who wants a new phone or laptop a few years away, has little to do with the index yet. If even the manufacturer does not know where he is, how should the consumer know?
The billion profits of Apple and Samsung called a counter-reaction: the Dutch FairPhone had to be produced honestly. Read also: Fairphone 2: a phone to keep (de)
That's right, says Van Notten. The organization sees that besides local governments, NGOs and unions, investors and shareholders are also watching the list. "The site has been online for two months and we have already heard that financial analysts and pension funds call the mining companies about their results. Accidents, scandals and environmental disasters are also a financial risk. "In this way, relatively inexpensive means like these can have a significant" leverage ", according to Van Notten.
This is one of the reasons why foreign affairs support "Our government believes that countries can develop by making good use of their natural resources." Because all information is available on the site in six languages, local authorities and local organizations also benefit, is the idea.
Van Notten draws his hope from the fact that there is room for improvement.If all the companies obtained a score as high for each of the indicators as the best of the list, they would do reasonably well. "We therefore do not set goals that are impossible to achieve. It can. The neighbor does it too. "
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