Working to mitigate risks
An essential element of supply chain due diligence is demonstrating action on the ground to address issues we've identified. For example, we have been part of the Tin Working Group (TWG). This coalition of high-profile consumer electronics brands, metal manufacturers, NGOs, and government and industry bodies has been run by the Responsible Minerals Initiative, and aims to address the social and environmental impacts of tin mining. Working with miners, local government and other stakeholders to understand the situation in Bangka island, Indonesia, the TWG supports a road map for improvements. With a grant from the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM), the TWG has supported two pilot projects: one focused on the sustainable reclamation of mining land and one to improve health and safety among miners.
Multi-stakeholder standards and site-based certification: We’ve taken a key role in the evolution of two new certification organisations, ResponsibleSteel™ and the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) and we work with the Responsible Minerals Initiative to help create greater alignment between mineral-using industries. We’re helping to strengthen their governance, membership network, strategic outlook and communications. To create greater impact and efficiency, we’re working to align both standards bodies with each other.
In the first exercise of its kind, we piloted ResponsibleSteel™ at multiple sites worldwide in 2019, to test and shape the process. This has helped us understand how the standard is likely to be applied, how manageable the audit process is, and how close we are to meeting the standard. We’re planning the roll-out of ResponsibleSteel™ across the company and aim to certify all our integrated steelmaking sites in Europe against the ResponsibleSteel™ standard by the end of 2020. See here for more.
We’re already completing the three-yearly independent verification review of the performance of ArcelorMittal Mines and Infrastructure Canada as part of the Toward Sustainable Mining (TSM) programme of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC). And we’re committing to a gradual roll-out of TSM principles and standards across our marketable mines outside Canada in a four-year work plan beginning in 2018.
In addition, several of our business units globally are certified to responsible sourcing standards, such as BES 6001, SA 8000 or the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) base code.
At the same time, we have worked to encourage co-operation between standard-setters at IRMA, TSM and ResponsibleSteel™. In the same spirit, the Responsible Minerals Initiative has joined forces with the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) to create a working group to shape the debate. Members include miners, mineral users from the auto and electronic sectors and several mining schemes (IRMA, TSM, ICMM, RJC, ASI, ResponsibleSteel™).