Understanding Practices of Stakeholder Engagement and Mineral Supply Chain Due Diligence in the Electronics Industry
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Sustainable Mineral Sourcing Understanding corporate practices of stakeholder engagement and mineral supply chain due diligence in the Electronics Industry. Richard Evans August 2020 Utrecht University MSc Sustainable Development Evans R. (2020) Sustainable mineral sourcing Sustainable Mineral Sourcing Research on understanding practices of stakeholder engagement and mineral supply chain due diligence in the Electronics Industry. Sustainable Development Masters Thesis Earth Systems Governance (GEO4-2321) 45 Credits (EC) Richard Charles Olson Evans 5834171 [email protected] Utrecht University Faculty of Geosciences August 2020 I certify that this dissertation is entirely my work and no part of it has been submitted for an alternative degree or other qualification in this or another institution. I also certify that I have not collected data nor shared data with another candidate at Utrecht University or elsewhere without specific authorisation. Cover photo: from ‘Responsible Mining: Conflict minerals’ (2010) by GoodElectronics and SOMO, supplied by Sasha Lezhnev / Enough Project. Page 1 Evans R. (2020) Sustainable mineral sourcing Table of contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 4 List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................... 5 Foreword ................................................................................................................................ 6 Summary ................................................................................................................................ 7 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Problem Definition: sustainability risks in mineral supply chains .................................... 9 1.2 Social Context: managing sustainability risks in mineral supply chains .........................10 1.3 Paradigm Shift: top-down to multi-stakeholder mineral governance ...........................11 1.3.1 Stakeholder Engagement ................................................................................................... 13 1.3.2 Governing Mineral Due Diligence ....................................................................................... 13 1.4 Research Objective and Relevance ................................................................................14 1.5 Research Questions ........................................................................................................14 1.6 Research Framework ......................................................................................................15 2. Theoretical Framework: governing mineral sustainability .................................. 16 2.1 Mineral sustainability risks .............................................................................................16 2.1.1 Conflict Minerals ................................................................................................................. 19 2.2 Governing mineral sustainability risks ...........................................................................22 2.2.1 Public Governance: in ‘source countries’ ............................................................................ 22 2.2.2 Public Governance: intergovernmental organisations ....................................................... 22 2.2.3 Public Governance: in ‘home states’ ................................................................................... 25 2.2.4 Private Governance: corporate sustainability .................................................................... 26 2.2.5 Private Governance: industry organisations ....................................................................... 27 2.2.6 Multi-stakeholder Governance ........................................................................................... 29 2.2.7 Summary of Literature ........................................................................................................ 30 3. Conceptual Framework: due diligence and stakeholder engagement ................... 32 3.1 Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement ............................................................................33 Step 1: Engagement Strategy ...................................................................................................... 34 Step 2: Identify and Analyse Stakeholders ................................................................................... 35 Step 3: Plan Engagement............................................................................................................. 35 Step 4: Implement Meaningful Engagement ............................................................................... 36 Step 5: Act, Review and Improve ................................................................................................. 37 3.2 Effective Mineral Due Diligence .....................................................................................37 Step 1: Policy commitment and management system ................................................................ 38 Step 2: Identifying and Assessing Supply Chain Risks .................................................................. 38 Step 3: Design and Implement Risk Management Strategy ........................................................ 39 Step 4: Third-Party Audit ............................................................................................................. 39 Step 5: Reporting ......................................................................................................................... 39 3.3 Assessing practices of Due Diligence and Engagement .................................................40 Page 2 Evans R. (2020) Sustainable mineral sourcing 4. Methodology ...................................................................................................... 42 4.1 Research Design .............................................................................................................42 4.2 Case Selection.................................................................................................................42 4.3 Data Collection ...............................................................................................................45 4.3.1 Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 45 4.3.2 Corporate Survey ................................................................................................................ 46 4.3.3 Expert Consultation ............................................................................................................ 46 4.4 Data Coding ....................................................................................................................46 5. Analysis of Electronics Case Studies ..................................................................... 47 5.1 Introduction to Case Studies ..........................................................................................47 5.2 Mineral Due Diligence Effectiveness ..............................................................................50 Policy Output 1: Set clear due diligence policy ............................................................................ 50 Policy Output 2: Conduct appropriate engagement within the due diligence process ................ 52 5.3 Stakeholder Engagement Effectiveness .........................................................................56 Policy Output 3: Set clear engagement policy ............................................................................. 56 Policy Output 4: Establish management responsibilities for engagement .................................. 57 Policy Output 5: Appropriately identify and analyse stakeholder groups ................................... 57 Policy Output 6: Set appropriate engagement objectives ........................................................... 59 Policy Output 7: Ensure stakeholders are informed .................................................................... 60 Policy Output 8: Assign appropriate ‘mode’ of engagement ....................................................... 61 Policy Output 9: Support stakeholders to ensure fair, equal and respectful representation ....... 63 Policy Output 10: Assign realistic and appropriate engagement timelines ................................. 64 Policy Output 11: Establish appropriate engagement outcomes ................................................ 65 Policy Output 12: Develop appropriate monitoring and evaluation mechanisms ....................... 66 6. Sustainability Governance Effectiveness .............................................................. 67 6.1 Mineral Due Diligence Effectiveness ..............................................................................67 6.2 Stakeholder Engagement Effectiveness .........................................................................71 7. Implications of this study for industry, state and civil society stakeholders .......... 75 8. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 79 Appendices ............................................................................................................. 81 Appendix 1 ..................................................................................................................................