Value chain and society
We aim to leverage our sustainability approach in the value chain, both upstream with our suppliers and downstream with our customers.
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Our success is measured in our ability to provide environmental and ethical sourcing benefits of scarce raw materials and to deliver products and services that create sustainable value for our customers and society.
Umicore’s Horizon 2020 objectives reflect a proactive view of our role in the overall value chain. They cover Umicore’s presence and impact upstream, through the interaction with suppliers or in our own operations for example, as well as the downstream impact of our products and services.
Upstream, we have placed greater emphasis on the management of key raw materials supply requirements. We have also sought to ensure that Umicore’s efforts in the field of ethical sourcing can generate a competitive edge for the company.
Downstream, we have a strong portfolio of products and services that offer specific sustainability advantages to our customers and society.
We use this long-standing and growing experience in ethical sourcing and sustainably managing raw materials to advocate for better practices.
In 2018, Umicore played a leading role in several efforts to advance industry practices, including with the Cobalt Institute, where Umicore supported the development of the Cobalt Industry Responsible Assessment Framework (CIRAF) which is a management framework for risk assessment and mitigation, aiming at ensuring responsible cobalt production and sourcing.
Within the World Economic Forum’s “Global Battery Alliance”, Umicore took a leading role in the circular economy working group that, in 2018, focused on finding and analyzing the gaps to close the battery loop. We also contributed to another important project within the Global Battery Alliance that aims to develop a standard for Artisanal Small-scale Mining to ensure that the cobalt extraction industry is free of child labor.
For more information on our partnerships and work with civil society, see Stakeholder Engagement here.
The Umicore Way
The Umicore Way is the cornerstone of everything we do at Umicore. We believe that materials have been a key element in furthering the progress of mankind, that they are at the core of today’s life and will continue to be enablers for future wealth creation. We believe that metal-related materials have a vital role to play, as they can be efficiently and infinitely recycled, which makes them the basis for sustainable products and services. We want Umicore to be a leader in providing and creating material-based solutions to contribute to fundamental improvements in the quality of life. To ensure our activities are conducted in line with the Umicore Way, we have adopted policies including the Umicore Code of Conduct, Human Rights Policy, Sustainable Procurement Charter.
Our success depends on a relation of trust and professionalism with employees, commercial partners, shareholders, government authorities and the public. These principles are embedded in our Code of Conduct which sets the framework for ethical behavior and respect of the rule of law, including regarding anticorruption and bribery.
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