The fifth podcast in our series of six is now available to PracticalESG.com members. In this installment, Mike Loch, President of Responsible Trade LLC talks with me about how companies adapted to the conflict minerals rule by changing their business and procurement practices. He offers his views on how companies may need to change in a similar way as a result of a final SEC climate disclosure.
We discuss:
- Concepts behind the development of the industry’s conflict minerals smelter/refiner audit program
- Challenges encountered in that effort
- Will climate performance thresholds become contractual terms similar to conflict minerals?
- The business case for conflict minerals conformance – can that be a model for climate programs?
- Will customers actually pay a premium for “more responsible” products?
- The importance of company engagement in policy development