The Sustainability Learning Forum

Children: A Universal Cause

Corinne Bélière, Air France
AIR FRANCE KLM

Air France KLM’s mission is to connect people around the world. Some 72 million people of all ages, languages, and cultures travel each year on board our aircraft. The attentive service provided to each and every one of our passengers has led the Group toward a better understanding of its customers and their expectations over the years. This approach, which encompasses much more than simple flight services, extends to the destinations and regions where the Group is present and to the people who live there. more[...]

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Children: A Universal Cause

Corinne Bélière, Air France
AIR FRANCE KLM

Air France KLM’s mission is to connect people around the world. Some 72 million people of all ages, languages, and cultures travel each year on board our aircraft. The attentive service provided to each and every one of our passengers has led the Group toward a better understanding of its customers and their expectations over the years. This approach, which encompasses much more than simple flight services, extends to the destinations and regions where the Group is present and to the people who live there. more[...]

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Conflict Minerals

Resource conflict is one of several destabilizing phenomena commonly cited as defining many of the extractive economies of the global south. Our Tutorial discusses all aspects of the issue with a special focus on US laws, SEC and Dodd-Frank Act regulations. more[...]

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African leaders urged to invest in jobs, infrastructure and protecting development gains

African Development Bank (AfDB)

n unprecedented gathering of experts in Kigali, present and former African Heads of State urged business, community and political leaders to help turn the continent’s impressive growth into economic opportunities for ordinary citizens. more[...]

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Taking Conflict Out of Consumer Gadgets: Company Rankings on Conflict Minerals 2012

Sasha Lezhnev, Enough Project

Leading electronics companies are making progress in eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chains, but still cannot label their products as being conflict free. Since Enough’s last corporate rankings report on conflict minerals in December 2010, a majority of leading consumer electronics companies have moved ahead in addressing conflict minerals in their supply chains—spurred by the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and growing consumer activism, particularly on college campuses. Most firms have improved their scores from the 2010 rankings, but some laggards still remain. more[...] login_required

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Conflict Minerals and SEC Disclosure Regulation

Prof. Celia Taylor, University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Mention the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank” or the “Act”),[1] and most people think of legislation aimed at “fundamental reform of the financial system”[2] focused on regulation of Wall Street practices and complex financial products. But tucked within the voluminous text of the Act (which consists of 2,300 pages and stipulates the passage of 387 rules by 20 different agencies[3]) is a provision having nothing to do with these issues or anything remotely related to them. Instead the “conflict minerals” provision of the Act requires companies that are subject to the reporting requirement of the federal securities laws to disclose whether they manufacture products using so-called “conflict minerals” sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) or contiguous countries.[4] more[...]

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Blood on your mobile phone? Capturing the gains for artisanal miners, poor workers and women

Dr. Dev Nathan, Institute for Human Development

Capturing the Gains research into the global production of mobile phones traces the connections between armed factions, poverty and violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and mobile phone users worldwide. The critical link is coltan, or columbite tantalite. It is the raw material for tantalum, an essential mineral in the manufacture of mobile phones, computers and other electronic equipment. more[...] login_required

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Gold is now the Most Lucrative Conflict Mineral from Eastern Congo

Enough Project

Gold smuggled from eastern Congo’s war zone is now the most lucrative conflict mineral and is ending up at jewelry stores and banks, according to a new investigative report by the Enough Project. The study found that following a 65 percent drop in profits from the conflict minerals tin, tungsten, and tantalum, armed groups have increasingly turned to smuggling the fourth conflict mineral, gold, to generate income that finances mass atrocities in eastern Congo. The armed groups use poorly paid miners, who work in dangerous conditions, including thousands of children as young as eight years old. The study maps out how conflict gold makes its way from eastern Congo to consumers worldwide who purchase it in the form of wedding rings and watches, and investment banks that buy gold bars. more[...] login_required

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From Child Miner to Jewelry Store

Enough Project

This is the first of two papers on the illegal conflict-gold trade from eastern Congo that is fueling one of the most violent conflicts in the world. This paper tracks the transnational trade from mines in eastern Congo to consumers. The second paper will map a way to resolve this problem by setting out recommendations to formalize the trade, cut down conflict-gold smuggling, and create jobs to provide living wages to Congolese miners. more[...] login_required

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Friends of Kitui

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WE Charity

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Addressing the Global Health Issue of Zinc Deficiency

Emily Hamer, Teck Ressources Limited
Teck Resources Limited

Teck is a diversified resource company committed to responsible mining and mineral development with major business units focused on copper, steelmaking coal, zinc, and energy. The pursuit of sustainability guides Teck’s approach to business. The company, which is based in Vancouver, Canada, is building partnerships and capacity to address sustainability challenges within the regions in which it operates and at the global level. more[...]

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The Children First

Lilines Urriola Herrera, medcom
medcom

In the past year, Panama has made some important and positive headlines worldwide. The country was awarded an investment grade credit rating by both of the globally renown ratings agencies, Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor’s. Also, the New York Times named Panama as the number one travel destination in 2012. The country also had economic growth of 8 percent from 2006 to 2010, and in 2011 the country’s economy grew 10.6 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America. more[...] login_required

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“Actions of Life” – Actions of Responsibility for Society

Yiannis Roundos, INTERAMERICAN
Interamerican Group

Contributing to society with social responsibility initiatives and actions constitutes a core element of INTERAMERICAN’s mission. For this reason, the company invests significant amounts of time into various social actions, above and beyond the responsible practices that it has integrated into activities of its business operations. From its inception until today, it has continually focused on the people and society in general. more[...] login_required

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Attacking a Potential Killer of Children

Editorial Team

In 2006, Merck introduced RotaTeq®, its rotavirus vaccine, in the U.S. Merck recognized, however, that this vaccine was most needed in the developing world but that it would be unsustainable to donate it on an ongoing basis – it needed to identify a sustainable business model. Through the Merck-Nicaraguan Ministry of Health RotaTeq® Partnership Merck pledged to donate enough rotavirus vaccine for three birth cohorts of children and funding to introduce the vaccine, improve disease awareness, develop appropriate educational materials, and update the routine vaccination card. Our goal was to demonstrate the feasibility and health benefit of introducing the vaccine in a developing country. more[...] login_required

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