Metals and minerals stewardship

When we sourced responsibly produced copper for our education centre back in 2005 it was a world first. No one had tried to track metal used in construction across the globe from its extraction, through its complex refinement process, its fabrication, right up to its arrival on the building site.

This unusual effort has put us in a good position to be able to talk to people throughout the metals supply chain – in construction and other industries.

What is a responsible metals and minerals supply chain?

Given that the extractive industry can have such a big impact on local landscapes and people, and that global demand for virgin metal is on the increase, it's important that consumers are able to find out if metals and minerals have come from a responsibly managed mine. After all, they can already trace whether coffee, cotton, paper or even timber has been responsibly sourced.

Some mining companies are developing good social and environmental practices when extracting raw materials, and manufacturers and retailers are coming up with their own sustainability initiatives within their small section of the supply chain. But, in many cases, little work has been done to link their initiatives with those up- or down-stream of their own operations.

The metals and minerals industry is beginning to do some work in this area. A good example is the Responsible Jewellery Council initiative. Jewellers who’ve signed up to this should be able to answer customers’ questions about the diamonds and gold on sale in their shop.

We want to help this sort of approach to become more widespread – across many different industries.

What is Eden doing to help?

Through Eden’s metals and minerals stewardship programme we’re working with companies, from mining through to retail, to look at the feasibility of developing responsible sourcing schemes together.

To do this we are:

• Working to influence policy
  We collaborated with the UK’s Building Research Establishment and British Standards Institute to help develop responsible sourcing frameworks for construction products.
• Convening unlikely players within metals and minerals supply chains
  We’re hosting a debate within the aluminium value chain, which sees ‘end-users’ such as Tetra Pak and Nespresso debating around the same table as mining giants like Rio Tinto Alcan and Alcoa. Tetra Pak are keen to see how they can responsibly source the thin layer of aluminium foil within their cartons and Nespresso want to make sure the foil they use on their coffee capsules comes from a well-managed supply chain.
• Encouraging others to ask the right questions
  Having tracked supply chains for metals and minerals ourselves (see our copper roof below), we’re helping others become more informed clients in this area. For example, we’d like to see car manufacturers, some of which are already making great strides in improving fuel efficiency, start asking about the impacts associated with the production of the metal used to build the car – and also passing this information on to the customer.

Eden's responsibly sourced copper roof

When we built our sustainably designed education centre, the Core, we needed to find a responsibly sourced metal for the roof. We worked with our industry partner, Rio Tinto, to track the copper from their well-managed mine in Utah, USA, through the entire supply chain to our roof.

While this sort of practice in construction has become quite usual for the timber industry (thanks to the Forest Stewardship Council and other timber schemes) this was the first ever example within the metals and minerals industry.