Editor’s Note
This article highlights the mounting global pressure on companies to provide greater supply chain transparency. Driven by regulations, standards, and consumer demand, the call for traceability from source to shelf is becoming a business imperative.
Companies worldwide are facing increasing pressure to enhance transparency in their supply chains and the associated processes, products, actors, and activities. This demand stems not only from regulatory requirements and international standards but also from voluntary industry commitments and ever-higher consumer expectations. Market players want to be able to trace products from raw material extraction to the final product. They expect transparency, particularly in identifying and managing undesirable social, ethical, and ecological impacts in supply chains – customers and consumers want to know if the products they buy have been responsibly manufactured.
Ilse Schoeters, an environmental engineer at Glencore, and her team manage transparency obligations in metals and minerals sourcing. With twenty-five years of experience in the metallurgical and mining industry, this Belgian native has held various positions at Rio Tinto, the European Copper Association, and Eurometaux in the areas of product responsibility, chemical management, and compliance before joining the Swiss company. In this interview, she explains how Glencore implements the requirements for responsible sourcing.
Madam Schoeters, in the economy, the notion of responsibility is an important concept but often remains a pious wish. How would you define this concept concerning mineral raw material sourcing?
What does this mean concretely?
Have you established your own standards in this regard?
How is this translated into practice?