American copper major Freeport-McMoRan has announced its commitment to the ‘Copper Mark’, a global standard to ensure responsible production and trading of copper.
The company has started the process for six of its operating sites and has future plans to validate all its operating sites against the Copper Mark requirements.
Copper Mark is the first and only framework developed specifically for the copper industry and enables each site to demonstrate to customers, investors and other stakeholders their responsible production performance.
To receive the Copper Mark, producers must be assessed independently against a comprehensive set of environmental, social and governance criteria on a site-by-site basis.
The framework currently is focused on producers at the beginning of the supply chain, but aims to broaden it to include fabricators and component producers in future. Its goal is to establish a chain of custody for downstream companies, such as automobile and electronics producers.
“As one of the world’s largest copper producers, we understand we play a critical role in this transition, and we remain dedicated to supplying the global economy with responsibly produced copper,” said Freeport-McMoRan president and CEO Richard Adkerson.
Copper Mark was first developed by the International Copper Association in partnership with a range of stakeholders, but it is now an independent entity and builds on the advice of its multi-stakeholder advisory council.