Karin Buhmann, Copenhagen Business School - Respons
ible Investments in Arctic Mining: Implications of Chinese Policies
When: Tuesday, 30 October 2018 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
(ET)
Where: ARCUS D.C. Office - 1201 New York Avenue,
NW, Fourth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005 or online via live webinar
Abstract
A growing global market for generic m inerals that are used in technical products for the ‘green’ energy transiti on and the electronic industry holds interesting potential for the Arctic. Developing prospects for the Arctic in general, this presentation takes Gre enland as an example of an Arctic country which may offer alternative sourc es for minerals otherwise known as ‘conflict-minerals’. China’s electronic, solar power, and wind energy industries need certain generic minerals for production for the global market. Certain conflict-ridden countries are mai n sources of some of these minerals, which are known as ‘conflict minerals’ when their trade helps fuel armed conflicts. Commitment to fight conflict minerals have led the U.S. and the European Union to introduce requirements on importers and manufacturers to document efforts to avoid conflict-relat ed supply chains. China has responded by developing guidelines for minerals supply chains and mining investment. The Chinese guidelines’ reference to the concept of risk-based due diligence is of particular relevance in this context. This concept was introduced by guidelines from the United Nations and elaborated in guidelines from the Organisation for Economic Collaborati on and Development (OECD) as a company approach for identifying and managin g its adverse impacts. The presentation will explain how it may complement Arctic host country policies and regulation on the prevention of adverse hu man rights impacts, and on stakeholder engagement in impact assessment for that purpose.
Speaker Details
Karin Buhm ann is a Professor of Business & Human Rights at Copenhagen Business Sc hool (CBS), a Danish business university with a commitment to corporate sus tainability. Her research and teaching focus on public regulations to conne ct business activity and public policy. Karin’s research has a strong focus on the interaction between public and private hard, soft, and smart-mix re gulation; sources of norms; and their implementation in national and transn ational contexts. Her Arctic-related research interests focus on potential beneficial as well as adverse social impacts of natural resource exploratio n and extraction and on citizen involvement in impact assessment processes. Since 2012 Karin has served as one of the members of the Danish National C ontact Point under the Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Developm ent’s (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. She is the deputy re presentative at the University of the Arctic (UArctic) for CBS, and the lea d and a founding member of the UArctic Thematic Network (TN) on Arctic Sust ainable Resources and Social Responsibility. She has published widely in in ternational journals and edited volumes. During the fall of 2018 she is a v isiting Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.< /p> X-EXTRAINFO:https://www.arcus.org/research-seminar-series DTSTAMP:20260423T205206Z DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20181030T120000 DTEND;TZID=UTC:20181030T130000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR