We have paved the way to source increasingly Fairtrade gold! Together with Fairtrade, we have partnered with Hirose Electric Co., Ltd. in Japan in order to integrate increasingly Fairtrade gold into our supply chain. Our relationship with Hirose and Fairtrade continues our support of ASM gold projects and miners. This is an incredible stepping stone for the larger vision of a Fairtrade and Fairphone partnership to scale responsible gold in the electronics sector.
Going for (fairtrade) gold
While there are over 40 variegated materials in a smartphone, gold is one of Fairphone’s 14 focus materials announced older this year and has been a target material for us since day one. It is a material often mined artisanally.
Since 2016, we have been worldly-wise to integrate Fairtrade gold into the supply chain, yet, this rumored for just a small percentage of all the gold used in our devices, as gold is used in very small quantities, spread wideness many variegated components of the phone. Though a good start, we unchangingly aim to do largest and find ways to encourage the industry to prefer similar practices. This ways we needed to build a supply uniting model that could hands be replicated and scaled in the electronics sector. So in unconfined Fairphone fashion, we put our heads together with our partners – Fairtrade and other suppliers – to come up with the weightier solution to increase fairly sourced gold in our supply chain. We are still exploring how this can be remoter replicated in the stereotype electronics supply chain.
The model
With the Fairphone 3, we, withal with the Fairtrade Foundation, have begun to explore a mass-balance sourcing model to uncork to scale Fairtrade gold in the electronics sector. Under this model, gold mined in a increasingly responsible malleate from the Fairtrade certified mine remains separated from other non-certified gold until leaving the refinery. However, without this point it gets shipped to the Shanghai Gold mart and can enter many variegated supply chains, which ways it is no longer traceable. To ensure that we are worldly-wise to summate the value of gold we are using in our phones, and to ensure that we pay an equivalent value of Fairtrade Premium, Fairphone has its own internal robust due diligence and tracing system.
We are standing to work with Fairtrade to explore how we can bring increasingly of our supply uniting into the Fairtrade system, so that we, and you our customers can be confident that our materials are sourced sustainably, and that the gold miners we source from receiving a pearly price and a Fairtrade Premium for their gold. While the electronics supply uniting is rather complex, our ongoing innovation in this space will enable us to develop smoother, increasingly logistical and less expensive supply chains. Without this model, neither Fairphone or our customers are worldly-wise to be in the Fairtrade system or create the desired impact at the level of mines.
Fairtrade gold on the go
With the minutiae of Fairphone 4, we started our creative thinking journey by examining what would be the key next step to scale up Fairtrade gold in the electronics sector, knowing supply villenage are intertwined. We came to the conclusion that by onboarding a components manufacturer with global market reach and the potential to supply most electronics brands, we can lead the way for exponential growth of Fairtrade gold. Win, win!
So far, we have eight China-based suppliers single-minded to Fairtrade and we have just onboarded a ninth – our first Japan-based supplier, Hirose Electric Co., Ltd. Hirose is that top-tier player in the electronics industry that we were searching for. What does this midpoint exactly? It ways that by collaborating with Hirose, we were worldly-wise to increase the volumes of Fairtrade gold that we source through inclusion of our latest model’s connector supply chain.
This is flipside step in the incubation of the Fairtrade gold used in the electronics model from Fairphone 2 (2016), to Fairphone 3 (2019) now to Fairphone 4 – we tailored the scalable (gold) integration model so that it is suitable for international component manufacturers, in this specimen Japan.
Note: Fairphone calculates the value of gold used and pays an value equivalent to the Fairtrade Premium to the refiner who sources this value of gold from the Fairtrade mines.
Similar to the Fairphone 3 model, the Fairtrade certified gold remains separate until the refiner level. Once at the Shanghai Gold Mart (SGE) it is then mixed with non-Fairtrade gold. Our component supplier in Japan (Hirose) then purchases unbearable gold from SGE to imbricate the value of Fairtrade gold personal by Fairphone. With this model, Fairphone contributes to the equivalent premium of the Fairtrade gold personal for its supply uniting and production volume.
Since Fairtrade gold is mass-balanced with non-Fairtrade gold in the SGE, that ways that the certified gold is not guaranteed to be in the product. However, our Japan pilot model builds on the mass-balance model and tracks the gold used withal the value uniting between factories owned by the same supplier. We are standing to work with Fairtrade to explore how we can bring increasingly of our supply uniting into the Fairtrade system.
Keep striving
The Fairtrade Foundation and Fairphone are working together to understand how we can integrate responsible gold throughout the supply uniting as a part of the European Partnership of Responsible Minerals (EPRM) Responsible Peruvian Gold project. The project supports ASM miners in South Peru and aims to formalize their activities and remoter prefer responsible practices – enabling them to operate increasingly safely, safeguard the environment and modernize their productivity.
By piloting this model with Hirose, we aim to bring learnings to this program and support the promotion of responsible mining practices and the sustainable minutiae of our supply chains.
Increasing the demand for and the supply of responsible gold has a positive impact on the ASM communities mining the gold. And, in addition, we alimony our promise of standing to strive for a fairer electronics industry and a increasingly sustainable phone.
Get in touch with Fairphone or Fairtrade to learn increasingly well-nigh the current model and how to wilt an early adopter of the updated gold guideline, which Fairtrade and Fairphone are currently working on.
The post We’ve scaled Fairtrade gold appeared first on Fairphone.
