CSR Europe’s Executive Director, Stefan Crets, will be a speaker at the EU-Zambia Copper Business Forum 2024 side event co-organized with the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI).
The EU Green Deal and the related transition towards digital, highly energy-efficient, and climate-neutral European economies will lead to a significantly higher demand for raw materials. The technologies requiring them, such as batteries and electric engines, will be key to achieving the goals under the Paris Agreement. At the same time, the expectations towards sustainable business models, throughout the entire value chain, are increasing and encompass not only environmental and community impacts but all ESG aspects of sustainability.
In relation to raw materials, downstream companies start to engage more with upstream actors, mainly in the mining business, to advance on this sustainability agenda. Equally, they are themselves expected to change the traditional linear model of materials use towards a more circular approach. Both transformations come with a lot of challenges: the direction is clear, but the how-to is a steep learning curve.
At a downstream level, the need for access to the materials requires investment and engagement throughout the value chain, especially in the evolving geo-political context. More than ever, materials sourcing is therefore not only a sustainability agenda but also a straightforward investment and partnership agenda. For Zambia and its local communities, this is an opportunity.
Dealing with the sustainability challenges in the value chains of products and services requires more than an individual corporate due diligence approach. Investments in and the empowerment of local actors in the sustainability journey is essential to advance sustainability in the mining sector.
Collaboration is the key word: between competitors, within the value chain, and with a wider group of stakeholders. The methodology of “Local Sustainability Networks” as developed by CSR Europe in mining projects in DRC and South Africa allows such an approach and will be explored and discussed during this session.
The goal of this approach is to strengthen responsible sourcing and due diligence practices in the battery value chain and to have a positive impact on the local economy and the local population. This will allow to attract more investment and engagement in the Zambian mining sector. This side-event will discuss this approach and explore the different challenges where mining companies and their suppliers and customers can work together to tackle shared ESG issues.