Supply chain due diligence: China’s role in the international debate and setting of standards
The debate on mandatory human rights supply chain due diligence is gaining momentum. Legal regulations are discussed extensively both at the international level as well as in Germany. In this debate, one country in particular is getting attention: China. According to some industry associations and symphatizing politicians, if Germany or the EU were to introduce […]
International regulatory cooperation and the public good
How “good regulatory practices” in trade agreements erode protections for the environment, public health, workers and consumers The EU's Trade Agreement with Canada (CETA) is the first EU agreement to include a comprehensive chapter on regulatory cooperation. Critical voices warn that regulatory cooperation is a gateway to deregulation and lowering environmental and consumer protection standards. […]
Will Industry 4.0 Create New Raw Materials Demands?
The shiny green world of Industry 4.0 ? (Art design: Tilla Balzer)[/caption] Some hope that a digitalization of the production – or Industry 4.0 – will help to increase resource efficiency, thus eventually decreasing resource consumption. Overall, however, the issue of raw material demands is mostly absent from public debates about digitalization and future technologies. […]
New Factsheet: Ruthless exploitation in the raw materials sector: How corporations are using the investment court system to enforce their interests
It explores the roots of the investor-state dispute settlement systems - as a mechanism protecting colonial investments from expropriation- and traces its development until today. But the paper also takes a more detailed look at current cases of mining companies suing states in the Global South, among else in El Salvador, Indonesia and South Africa […]
CETA and public health: "The unhealthy side effects of CETA"
We are glad that the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) has added an additional chapter to our main publication Making Sense of CETA II which was published in 2016. In this chapter, the authors Zoltán Massay-Kosubek and George Thurley explore the possible damages CETA threatens to inflict to public health.
Without responsibility and transparency – Human rights risks along the nickel supply chain
Being one of the biggest export nations, Germany is strongly dependent on raw material imports. Nearly 100 percent of the metallic primary raw materials are imported from abroad and processed by German industry. The German raw material requirement has strongly increased over the past decades and according to the forecasts it will continue to increase […]
Factsheet: We make the rules! How the EU intervenes in the sovereign fiscal policy of resource-rich countries
Raw materials, including raw materials for energy production, as well as semi-finished products, and components make up two thirds of all EU imports; more than half of these im-ports are transported to Germany. Germany’s status as ‘export world champion’ means that it relies on imports, including those of ferrous raw materials. In fact, Germany is […]
Policy Paper Working Group on Raw Materials: Towards a Democratic and Globally Just Resource Policy
Towards a Democratic and Globally Just Resource Policy The Federal Republic of Germany depends on the import of metallic, mineral and fossil fuel resources. The extraction of these raw materials takes place at the expense of the environment and leads to human rights violations. The German Federal Government does not take these consequences adequately into […]
