7 Mining & Metals Companies Partner on Responsible Sourcing
Seven leading mining and metals companies have partnered with the World Economic Forum to experiment, design and deploy blockchain solutions that will accelerate responsible sourcing and sustainability practices.
The Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative consists of Antofagasta Minerals, Eurasian Resources Group Sàrl, Glencore, Klöckner & Co, Minsur SA, Tata Steel Limited and Anglo American/De Beers (Tracr). The newly formed consortium will pool resources and cost, increase speed-to-market and improve industry-wide trust that cannot be achieved by acting individually. It aims to be a neutral enabler for the industry, addressing the lack of standardisation and improving efficiency.
The intention is to send out a signal of inclusivity and collaboration across the industry. The group will look to develop joint proof-of-concepts for an inclusive blockchain platform. Over time, this could help the industry collectively increase transparency, efficiency or improve reporting of carbon emissions.
In many cases, blockchain projects to support responsible sourcing have been bilateral. The result has been a fractured system that leaves behind parts of the ecosystem and lacks interoperability. This new initiative is owned and driven by the industry, for the industry. Members will examine issues related to governance, develop case studies and establish a working group. Key areas of collaboration and development could include carbon emissions tracking and supply chain transparency. They will work to use blockchain technology to increase trust between upstream and downstream partners, to address the lack of industry standardisation and to track provenance, chain of custody and production methods.
“Material value chains are undergoing profound change and disruption”, said Jörgen Sandström, Head of the Mining and Metals Industry, World Economic Forum. “The industry needs to respond to the increasing demands of minerals and materials while responding to increasing demands by consumers, shareholders and regulators for a higher degree of sustainability and traceability of the products.”
“Our heavy industries are responsible for about a third of global Co2 energy emissions today,” said T.V. Narendran, CEO of Tata Steel Limited. “To meet the Paris goals, we all have to contribute and joint action that focuses on driving down emissions is needed cross-industry, collaboration and scaling up technology can certainly accelerate this process.”
The World Economic Forum has offered its platform and expertise to help industry leaders better understand the impact and potential of blockchain technology. It will provide guidance on governance issues related to the delivery of a neutral industry platform and the expansion of members.
“The distributed nature of blockchain technology makes it the ultimate networked technology,” said Nadia Hewett, Blockchain Project Lead, World Economic Forum. “Forward-thinking organisations are starting to understand the disruptive potential of blockchain to solve pain points, but are now also recognising that industry-wide collaboration around blockchain is necessary.”
Competitors within the same industry who research and experiment with blockchain or distributed ledger technology are increasingly exploring consortium formation to accelerate and strengthen blockchain technology knowledge and potential research and development. This trend is reflected in the Deloitte Global Blockchain survey published in May, where the overwhelming majority (92%) of respondents say they either belong to a consortium or plan to join one in the next 12 months.
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