Blogs About Supply Chain

What Conflict Minerals Regulation Means on the Ground

Amaya Gorostiaga, Former Manager, Advisory Services

I recently returned from a trip to Kigali, Rwanda, where I attended a regional conference on mineral certification—an effort to create responsible supply chains for “conflict minerals” mined from the African Great Lakes Region. Through the discussions, I learned where the region stands on promoting transparency and good governance in the artisanal and small-scale mining sectors, and the implications that recent legislative efforts would have on companies operating in, or sourcing from, the region. Read more →

Posted: March 31, 2011 | Topics: Conflict Minerals, Consumer Products, Human Rights, Information & Communications Technology, Mining, Reporting & Communications, Supply Chain

Bringing Energy Efficiency to Inland China

Last week, I traveled to Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province for a two-day meeting on energy efficiency and carbon reduction with representatives from the Guangdong and Hubei provinces and the British Embassy. Wuhan has approximately 9 million people, three city centers, and is sprawled across several rivers and lakes—but more importantly, the city is currently in the middle of a major modernization effort. Read more →

Posted: March 18, 2011 | Topics: Climate Change, Environment, Supply Chain

HERproject Takes to the Field in Kenya

Jennifer Schappert, Manager, Partnership Development

During my most recent trip for HERproject with colleague Ryan Flaherty, the term "fieldwork" took on a whole new meaning—we found ourselves suiting up in boots and smelling roses. Ryan and I traveled to Naivasha (an hour northwest of Nairobi) to lay the groundwork for expanding HERproject into the cut-flower and food-processing industries in Kenya. Traditionally, BSR’s HERproject—a factory-based program that provides peer-to-peer health education to female workers—has operated in factories in the garment and information technology (IT) sectors. Read more →

Posted: March 7, 2011 | Topics: Consumer Products, Food, Beverage & Agriculture, Information & Communications Technology, Supply Chain, Women & Sustainability

Taking Worker Rights to Scale—So What If There Isn’t a Business Case?

Ayesha Barenblat, Former Director, Stakeholder Collaboration

I just returned from Singapore, where (thanks to the generous support of the Levi Strauss Foundation) we convened a leading group of worker rights training organizations from around the world to collaborate on ways to scale and deepen the impact of their daunting and difficult in-factory work. Read more →

Posted: February 1, 2011 | Topics: Civil & Political Rights, Consumer Products, Human Rights, Return on Investment, Supply Chain

Conflict Minerals Reporting Regulations: Who is Covered?

Marshall Chase, Associate Director, Advisory Services

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released draft conflict minerals reporting rulesin December 2010 that have significant implications for a range of corporate sustainability issues—from supply chain monitoring and transparency to integrated reporting and responsible investing. In the short term, however, many people are simply focused on understanding and commenting on these rules, which are open for comment until the end of January 2011. Read more →

Posted: January 13, 2011 | Topics: Conflict Minerals, Governance & Accountability, Human Rights, Reporting & Communications, Supply Chain