Our key takeaway: Reporting on due diligence in minerals supply chains is becoming more common among companies across sectors but the quality of this reporting is patchy, especially in the areas requiring the most effort by companies (identifying and responding to risks). This shows that there is mixed uptake of the OECD Minerals Guidance and that companies are struggling to put policy into practice at all levels of the value chain, especially upstream. There is a role for voluntary industry reporting schemes to complement mandatory reporting and bring up the quality of companies’ due diligence, bridging policy and practice for better implementation.
The Secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and WikiRate assessed disclosures by 503 companies on the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (OECD Minerals Guidance) between 2014 and 2018: