LG Chem said on Oct. 21 that it has joined the "RMI (Responsible Minerals Initiative)," a global consultation body on minerals, for the first time in South Korea's battery industry.
Established in 2008, RMI is a global consultative body that conducts constant monitoring and certification of the origin of battery materials such as cobalt and four major conflict minerals. Around 380 global automotive and IT companies, including Volkswagen, Renault and Apple, join the body as members.
With the entry, LG Chem will be able to receive various information related to the supply chain, including the origin and smelters of so-called high-risk minerals such as conflict minerals and cobalt secured by RMI, and establish a cooperative system with global companies that have joined the RMI consultative body to resolve social and environmental issues within the supply chain.
Based on such supply chain information system and cooperative system, LG Chem is planning to actively carry out due diligence on its own supply chain and improvement activities for its suppliers.
"The core competitiveness of companies depends on sustainability," said Shin Hak-cheol, vice chairman of LG Chem. "A transparent supply network considering environment and human rights is a must for LG Chem to become a global company."
Meanwhile, LG Chem introduced a "sustainable management" evaluation item for its global battery raw materials partners in August and conducted regular evaluations.
At that time, 'sustainable management item' was applied to 20% share of quality and development, which are key items of assessment of subcontractors.
Earlier this year, LG Chem formed a consortium with IBM, Ford, China's Huayou Cobalt and the U.K.'s RCS Global to drastically improve transparency and traceability of the cobalt supply chain.
