With copper crucial to a low carbon world the industry is moving to embrace “supply chain transparency”.
Big and small brands have led the way to make clear where their products come from-so called supply chain transparency-under pressure from consumers prepared to buy more ethical and environmentally sustainable goods.
Miners may have been a bit slow to take up the challenge , but that’s now changing.
Chile’s national miner CODELCO has led the way, promoting a project they call “Responsible, Sustainable and Traceable Copper” which kicked off two years ago. Under the scheme customers pay different prices for copper depending on the carbon footprint or impact on a local community of its production.
Codelco’s copper cathodes are now certified in eight ways: carbon footprint, water footprint, territorial impact, community impact, human rights, equal opportunity and inclusion, occupational safety and health, and transparency, ethics and traceability of funds.
It’s a message the world’s biggest miner, BHP Billiton, just echoed at the World Copper Conference in Santiago Chile by the head of BHP’s mining operations in the Americas Daniel Malchuk.
“Consumers care and they speak with their wallets…Sooner or later, the owner of an electric vehicle will want to know exactly what is in their car, and be guaranteed that it meets certain environmental standards. This is what the concept of ‘green copper’ is all about,” Daniel said.
The idea-which is also being called “feng shui copper”-is being boosted from electric car and clean energy companies which are using even higher amounts of copper.
As the world’s largest car companies focus on producing more electric vehicles, they are facing greater scrutiny about the ethical and environmental effects of their supply chains.
The move by CODELCO is prompting a permanent price divergence across commodity markets, with higher prices for low-carbon products.