An analysis of industry initiatives and sustainability reports
BMW, Daimler and VW are doing too little to live up to their human rights and environmental responsibility for their high consumption of raw materials. The three largest German car companies consume tens of millions of tons of steel, aluminium, copper and Co. The analysis published by PowerShift and INKOTA takes a look at the sustainability reports of the three largest German car companies. No group has a detailed due diligence report. In the case of numerous raw materials, the potential environmental and human rights violations are not reported at all or only very selectively. The raw materials sector is one of the economic sectors with the highest number of human rights violations worldwide.
It remains unclear to what extent the companies actually have knowledge of their entire value chains. However, this knowledge is a prerequisite for being able to check and ensure the protection of the environment and human rights. BMW, Daimler and VW are still far from creating public transparency about their value chains and the human rights due diligence process. With regard to the procurement of conflict minerals, US technology groups show that it is quite possible to act more transparently.
Instead of providing clear information, the three car companies refer in their sustainability reports, among other things, to membership in raw material initiatives, which in turn develop sustainability requirements. However, these initiatives do not guarantee environmentally, socially and humanly responsible raw material production. Rather, it is to be feared that the car companies outsource their responsibility by means of membership in a raw materials initiative.
The analysis highlights the need for a comprehensive and effective law on human rights and environmental due diligence across the value chain, which PowerShift and INKOTA are committed to as part of the Supply Chain Act initiative. In order to protect human rights, the climate and the environment, it is also urgently necessary to reduce the absolute consumption of raw materials in the automotive industry – and ultimately also to reduce the number of cars sold.
Note: The revised version of the study, December 2020, is presented here. The new version contains amendments on pages 6, 14 and 32-33. Thank you for your understanding.
(Photo by “arbyreed” on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
