Conflict Minerals Metrics Reveal Major Brands Leading in Some Areas, Weak in Many Others

OAKLAND, Calif., May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A study measuring large cap company performance on a major human rights risk, found both leading and lagging responses within conflict minerals reporting.

To conduct the pilot study for the report, Mining the Disclosures: An Investor Guide to Conflict Minerals Reporting, non-profit Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN) worked with Sustainalytics, a leading provider of environmental, social, and governance research, to develop a research tool that offers insights into the quality of corporate conflict minerals disclosures.

Companies in the Information Technology sector, which have borne the brunt of activist concern over conflict minerals, led the pack – Intel, Qualcomm, and Apple were all top performers. Companies in lagging industries, including energy equipment, containers and packaging, and healthcare equipment, scored much lower. The report calls on investors to encourage lagging sectors to engage in industry-wide schemes and take a more proactive approach to their due diligence efforts.

"While some companies took the initiative to provide robust conflict minerals reports, too many took the easy way out by fulfilling only the most minimal compliance requirements," said Patricia Jurewicz, Founder and Director of RSN and co-author of the report. "As companies see their peers adopting leading practices, we expect more transparency and greater depth in conflict minerals reporting."

Jackie Sturm, VP, Global Supply Management for Intel Corporation, welcomed the groundbreaking report. "We applaud the authors of this report for digging deeper into the topic of conflict minerals reporting. We share their view that you cannot have true accountability without transparency."

In last year's inaugural filings, 1,315 companies submitted conflict mineral disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as required by Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Conflict minerals reporting is a central part of the strategy adopted by stakeholders across sectors and continents to help free the minerals trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the broader Great Lakes region of Africa from the grip of armed groups.

The study examined a pilot pool of 51 companies across 17 industries with high exposure to conflict minerals. The transparent methodology was designed to encourage higher quality reporting, incentivize companies to support in-region conflict-free certification efforts, and set a precedent for comparing social performance.

CONTACT: Andrew Montes, (510) 735-8144, [email protected]

SOURCE Responsible Sourcing Network