Industry/Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives

Industry/Multi-stakeholder Initiatives

A selected list of industry initiatives is outlined below. Note the list is not exhaustive.

General

• UN Global Compact: Companies that are part of the initiative are expected to implement the UN Global Compact and its Ten principles in their day-to-day operations and strategy, and to communicate to stakeholders about the progress of implementation.
• Responsible Business Alliance: An industry coalition working for corporate social responsibility in global supply chains. Also runs RMI (see below).

Mining and Metals

• Copper Mark: The Copper Mark was initiated by the International Copper Association (ICA),and is built on a genuine commitment from the copper industry to ensure responsible production practices.
• Responsible Minerals Initiative: RMI aims to support responsible mineral sourcing and convenes stakeholders to shape dialogue and practices. RMI has developed tools such as the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (see above) and the Joint Due Diligence Standard (see below).
• Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: EITI is a multistakeholder initiative that seeks to promote understanding of natural resource management and accountability in the extractive sector and provide the data to inform policymaking and multi-stakeholder dialogue. It is composed of companies, government and civil society. In 2020 EITI issued guidelines on disclosure for companies - including commodity traders - which buy oil gas and minerals from states and state-owned enterprises, building on strengthened requirements in the 2019 Standard.
• The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance: IRMA offers true independent third-party verification and certification against a comprehensive standard for all mined materials that provides ‘one-stop coverage’ of the full range of issues related to the impacts of industrial-scale mines. 
• International Council on Mining and Metals: ICMM’s Mining Principles defines the good practice environmental, social and governance requirements of company members through a set of 38 Performance Expectations of the Mining Principles and will support progress towards the global targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goads and the Paris Agreement on climate change. 
• Fairmined (Alliance for Responsible Mining): Fairmined is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal and small-scale mining organisations. 
• Aluminium Stewardship Initiative: This organisation aims to set standards, as well as an assurance and certification system, for the responsible production and sourcing of aluminium.  
• Diamond Development Initiative: This initiative, run by NGO Resolve, created and applied the Maendeleo Diamond Standards, the first-ever set of standards for ethical artisanal diamond production and supply chain security. It also established a land reclamation project to restore and rehabilitate abandoned artisanal diamond mines.
• Global Battery Alliance: GBA seeks to ensure that the battery value chain is socially responsible, environmentally and economically sustainable and innovative.
• Towards Sustainable Mining: The Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) standard is a sustainability programme that supports mining companies in managing environmental and social risks.
• iTSCi: A multi-stakeholder programme contributing to better governance, human rights & stability in mineral supply chains. 
• ASM Progress: The Alliance for Responsible Mining has created an online tool that offers information about the progress of the mining organisations in their ESG practices, according to the CRAFT code, the Fairmined standard (see above), and the Forest Smart Mining standard.
• BetterCoal: International standard ("The Code") for assessing, assuring and sustaining ethical, environmental and social performance in the coal mining supply chain.

Agri

• Better Cotton: The Better Cotton Initiative is a non-profit, multistakeholder governance group that promotes better standards in cotton farming and practices across 21 countries.
• Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil: This organisation unites stakeholders from the seven sectors of the palm oil industry: oil palm producers, processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks/investors, and environmental and social NGOs, to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.
• Good Growth Partnership: Working across production, financing and demand, the Good Growth Partnership is a UN initiative which convenes a wide range of stakeholders and initiatives to reduce deforestation and enable sustainable development in three global commodity supply chains: soy, beef and palm oil.
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative: SFI works to advance sustainability in the forest sector by working with brand owners, conservation groups, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, governments, and universities.