Sustainable Procurement & CSR News - ICT Industry

While existing laws on conflict minerals have focused on DRC and surrounding territories, where they have fuelled decades of war, new European rules coming into force this week take into account the “extreme risk” that tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold mined in countries like Colombia, Peru and Myanmar is equally tainted.

Modern slavery also permeates the global supply chains of Australian businesses supplying goods to the Australian market from overseas. Major retailers, including Rip Curl, Woolworths, Coles and Aldi, have all been implicated in recent scandals involving exploitation in their supply chains. No company wants the curse of slavery in their products, yet too often that is the reality.

After months of public consultation, the City of Sydney has fast-tracked the adoption of an action plan that will help it achieve net zero emissions by 2050, tackle waste and water usage, and scale up renewable energy use.

HP believes that setting this standard for a transparent electronics recycling supply chain will lead to others following suit. That would be better for the planet and provide reassurance to customers that their cast off electronics will not endanger their confidential data by slipping through cracks of the regulated  recycling process.  

Over the past 25 years, dozens of national, regional and international climate funds have been created. Each new fund responded to needs and gaps that existed at the time, but this has led to a rather complicated system

The creation of resilient and sustainable cities is therefore a business opportunity for the private sector, who can build a marketplace for resilience tools and services.

Dell, the US$57 billion giant that makes millions of personal computers every year, has become the first company to attempt to stop the flow of plastic into the sea

BT, Telefonica, Telia Carrier and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative explain how the communications industry is reducing carbon emissions, even as data consumption escalates

To address the problem of unsustainable palm oil production, the European Parliament has approved a resolution to introduce a single certification scheme for palm oil entering the European Union and phase out the use of vegetable oils that drive deforestation by 2020.

Tougher vehicle pollution standards and mandatory air suction waste systems are two of the initiatives that the Singapore government will be implementing to curb emissions and revive the nation’s stagnant domestic recycling rates, but experts say more must be done to encourage Singaporeans to adopt more environmentally responsible lifestyles.

The relationship between business, politics, and the environment is about to become more complicated. As US President Donald Trump’s administration threatens to dismantle vital environmental protections, some of which have existed for decades, business leaders are increasingly recognizing – and acting upon – the need for environmentally sustainable policies.

Last year, Apple pledged to clean up its cobalt supply chain, but the technology giant said it wanted to avoid hurting the Congolese miners by cutting them off. Mining provides vital income for hundreds of thousands of people in what is one of the world's poorest countries.
Now, Apple says it has stopped — for now — buying cobalt from artisanal mines.