Periodic Reporting for period 3 - RE-SOURCING (Global Stakeholder Platform for Responsible Sourcing)
Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-10-31
The RE-SOURCING project established an international platform on responsible sourcing (RS) that facilitates the emergence of a well-connected community of practitioners and the development of a globally accepted vision of RS. The platform promotes the uptake of responsible business conduct, supports RS initiatives and enables the exchange of information and good practices between stakeholders.
The European Green Deal is the European Union's ambition to tackle the growing threat of climate change and environmental degradation. The targets set under this initiative require new technologies and their deployment in key industries such as renewable energy (RES), mobility (MS) and the electric & electronic goods sector (EEES). The global value chains that provide the mineral resources for these sectors extend well beyond the EU borders. To contribute to a global sustainability agenda, it is essential for these sectors to ensure responsible sourcing of their raw materials input. Governments, businesses, civil society, investors and consumers need to convene for systemic change based on a shared vision of responsible sourcing across mineral value chains. RE-SOURCING's key objectives include the following:
• Contribute to supportive framework conditions for responsible sourcing, in the EU and globally
• Foster the global application of responsible sourcing for the promotion of a level playing field
• Advance RS practices and concepts for inclusion within the Global Agenda, incl. a common understanding of a globally shared vision of RS across stakeholder groups
• Build a global network of stakeholders and a knowledge repository for responsible sourcing in the mineral value chains
RE-SOURCING connected stakeholders across borders through multiple engagement formats. Based on this collaboration, the project co-developed individual roadmaps and good practice guidelines under due consideration of the current state of RS in order to advance the realization of Responsible Sourcing in the three mentioned key industrial sectors.
The European Green Deal is the European Union's ambition to tackle the growing threat of climate change and environmental degradation. The targets set under this initiative require new technologies and their deployment in key industries such as renewable energy (RES), mobility (MS) and the electric & electronic goods sector (EEES). The global value chains that provide the mineral resources for these sectors extend well beyond the EU borders. To contribute to a global sustainability agenda, it is essential for these sectors to ensure responsible sourcing of their raw materials input. Governments, businesses, civil society, investors and consumers need to convene for systemic change based on a shared vision of responsible sourcing across mineral value chains. RE-SOURCING's key objectives include the following:
• Contribute to supportive framework conditions for responsible sourcing, in the EU and globally
• Foster the global application of responsible sourcing for the promotion of a level playing field
• Advance RS practices and concepts for inclusion within the Global Agenda, incl. a common understanding of a globally shared vision of RS across stakeholder groups
• Build a global network of stakeholders and a knowledge repository for responsible sourcing in the mineral value chains
RE-SOURCING connected stakeholders across borders through multiple engagement formats. Based on this collaboration, the project co-developed individual roadmaps and good practice guidelines under due consideration of the current state of RS in order to advance the realization of Responsible Sourcing in the three mentioned key industrial sectors.
Overall, the project started from a strong conceptual foundation during the first part of the project based on which it achieved to produce all deliverables as planned. Throughout the project, the RE-SOURCING project continued its dissemination and networking efforts for co-creating and promoting project results. The consortium has undertaken a number of activities that were instrumental to achieve the project’s main objectives:
• To create supportive EU framework conditions for RS: RE-SOURCING produced 1 cross sectoral and 3 sector-specific state-of-play reports (one each for the three focus sectors: RES, MS; EEES) that together establish the project’s knowledge baseline both for the project and the broader Responsible Sourcing Community. In addition, three multistakeholder Roadmaps (RES, MS, EEES) have been produced that outline key targets and milestones for achieving Responsible Sourcing of mineral raw materials until 2050. Likewise, three Good Practice Guidelines have been delivered with in total 12 Good Practices for policy, industry and civil society stakeholders.
• To foster global application of RS Concept & Practices: RE-SOURCING organized 21 multi-stakeholder events (4 conferences, 6 webinars, 8 workshops and 3 Global Advocacy Fora) with global participation from South America, Africa and Asia to enable exchange of perspectives and increase a common understanding about needs & issues connected to the implementation of Responsible Sourcing within global value chains. The results directly fed into 16 Briefing Documents, the 3 Roadmaps and 3 Good Practice Guidelines. They were used for following outputs that promoted wider implementation of RS practices and thus a level playing field.
• To Further RS Practices & Concepts for Inclusion within the Global Agenda: The project's State-of-Play reports, Roadmaps and Good Practice Guidelines that represent important inputs for global agenda setting have been established. Three Global Advocacy Fora have been successfully hosted in Chile, South Africa, and China. The events focused on local stakeholders from the LATAM, African, and Chinese regions to understand differences and synergies with the EU and promote collaboration. RE-SOURCING joined and mediated several important consultation processes with the European Commission, non-European government entities, the European Raw Material Alliance, and international research projects.
• To Build a Global Platform for the RS Community, Networks & Stakeholders: A RE-SOURCING network of more than 1045 subscribers and growing has been established in addition to the project's frequent exchanges across continents with actors from industry, policy, civil society and academia in support of a well-connected Responsible Sourcing Network. All relevant project results have been synthesized into the platform website’s online knowledge repository and sector subsites. 16 Briefing documents, 22 reports, 12 videos have been published on the website and 77 videos to social media channels to increase engagement with and understanding of Responsible Sourcing across stakeholder groups.
• To create supportive EU framework conditions for RS: RE-SOURCING produced 1 cross sectoral and 3 sector-specific state-of-play reports (one each for the three focus sectors: RES, MS; EEES) that together establish the project’s knowledge baseline both for the project and the broader Responsible Sourcing Community. In addition, three multistakeholder Roadmaps (RES, MS, EEES) have been produced that outline key targets and milestones for achieving Responsible Sourcing of mineral raw materials until 2050. Likewise, three Good Practice Guidelines have been delivered with in total 12 Good Practices for policy, industry and civil society stakeholders.
• To foster global application of RS Concept & Practices: RE-SOURCING organized 21 multi-stakeholder events (4 conferences, 6 webinars, 8 workshops and 3 Global Advocacy Fora) with global participation from South America, Africa and Asia to enable exchange of perspectives and increase a common understanding about needs & issues connected to the implementation of Responsible Sourcing within global value chains. The results directly fed into 16 Briefing Documents, the 3 Roadmaps and 3 Good Practice Guidelines. They were used for following outputs that promoted wider implementation of RS practices and thus a level playing field.
• To Further RS Practices & Concepts for Inclusion within the Global Agenda: The project's State-of-Play reports, Roadmaps and Good Practice Guidelines that represent important inputs for global agenda setting have been established. Three Global Advocacy Fora have been successfully hosted in Chile, South Africa, and China. The events focused on local stakeholders from the LATAM, African, and Chinese regions to understand differences and synergies with the EU and promote collaboration. RE-SOURCING joined and mediated several important consultation processes with the European Commission, non-European government entities, the European Raw Material Alliance, and international research projects.
• To Build a Global Platform for the RS Community, Networks & Stakeholders: A RE-SOURCING network of more than 1045 subscribers and growing has been established in addition to the project's frequent exchanges across continents with actors from industry, policy, civil society and academia in support of a well-connected Responsible Sourcing Network. All relevant project results have been synthesized into the platform website’s online knowledge repository and sector subsites. 16 Briefing documents, 22 reports, 12 videos have been published on the website and 77 videos to social media channels to increase engagement with and understanding of Responsible Sourcing across stakeholder groups.
As RE-SOURCING was a Coordination and Support Action (CSA), the project did not aim at advancing innovations in the mineral sourcing sector per se, but rather sought to guide downstream companies in their efforts to ensure any materials they use are responsibly sourced. The ultimate desired impacts at the end of the project comprised of a well-known and widely used RE-SOURCING platform as a hub for information provision, networking and knowledge exchange among key stakeholders; an expanded knowledge base on effective RS practices; and an improved perception and shift of attitudes among key business players, consultants and industry initiatives, as well as public policy that RS provides a competitive advantage.
To this end, the project followed a number of activities, which were instrumental for achieving abovementioned impacts: 1) drafting sectoral roadmaps towards responsible sourcing, 2) facilitating community building and stakeholder networking for peer learning , 3) using dissemination of various project outputs through channels tailored to specific target audiences.
The project’s impacts can be differentiated into quantitative and qualitative impacts. Whereas the former impacts focus more on the communication and outreach to stakeholders (e.g. the number of stakeholders targeted), the latter focuses on the quality of this interaction (e.g. knowledge sharing and learning effects achieved).
Through its activities on general awareness raising, practitioner exchange and learning as well as broad communication and outreach to important stakeholders on the European and global level, the project directly facilitated improved framework conditions for RS: 1) strategic level of European policy (e.g. contributing to the strategic level of policies such as the EU Conflict Mineral Regulation or upcoming regulatory development for EU mandatory human rights due diligence) 2) on the level of business stakeholders in both down and upstream sectors of RES, MS and EEES (e.g. increased awareness and uptake of responsible sourcing and responsible business conduct practices), and, 3) on the international level of organisations and RS initiatives (e.g. improved awareness on the benefits of RS and emergence and consolidation of RS in international initiatives and Global Agenda setting).
To this end, the project followed a number of activities, which were instrumental for achieving abovementioned impacts: 1) drafting sectoral roadmaps towards responsible sourcing, 2) facilitating community building and stakeholder networking for peer learning , 3) using dissemination of various project outputs through channels tailored to specific target audiences.
The project’s impacts can be differentiated into quantitative and qualitative impacts. Whereas the former impacts focus more on the communication and outreach to stakeholders (e.g. the number of stakeholders targeted), the latter focuses on the quality of this interaction (e.g. knowledge sharing and learning effects achieved).
Through its activities on general awareness raising, practitioner exchange and learning as well as broad communication and outreach to important stakeholders on the European and global level, the project directly facilitated improved framework conditions for RS: 1) strategic level of European policy (e.g. contributing to the strategic level of policies such as the EU Conflict Mineral Regulation or upcoming regulatory development for EU mandatory human rights due diligence) 2) on the level of business stakeholders in both down and upstream sectors of RES, MS and EEES (e.g. increased awareness and uptake of responsible sourcing and responsible business conduct practices), and, 3) on the international level of organisations and RS initiatives (e.g. improved awareness on the benefits of RS and emergence and consolidation of RS in international initiatives and Global Agenda setting).