Product chain

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A typical chain of custody in the extractive and mining sector. Source: Young (2015, p. 10).

The chain of custody (Engl. Chain of Custody ) documenting the flow of materials and raw materials for several stops to the final product . It is important for the certification of raw materials and their traceability . In order to ensure that the end products really meet the requirements of the standard , the initiatives track the material flow across the product chain. This should make it possible to determine without a doubt whether a raw material comes from sustainable production. Often, end products such as paper contain material from different sources. That is why minimum values ​​are also set for how high the proportion of sustainable materials must be so that the end product can still bear the seal. The certification of the product chain attests to sustainability across the entire supply chain .

The certification of the product chain is time-consuming, as the product chains can be very complex, with five to nine stations in geographically different locations, from raw material extraction in the mine to the end product. There are also tens of thousands of producers of the metals tin , tantalum , tungsten and gold . That is why the Conflict-Free Smelter Program makes use of Chokepoints. In this case, those are the smelters and refineries . According to an estimate by Young (2015), there are around 500 of these worldwide, but only 200 to 300 produce materials for the electronics, automotive and aerospace industries. So they are suitable chokepoints to the material flow to be monitored. It is also the last point at which the origin could be checked, because after the melting process it can no longer be determined.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Renzo Mori Junior, Daniel M. Franks & Saleem H. Ali: Designing Sustainability Certification for Impact: Analysis of the design characteristics of 15 sustainability standards in the mining industry . Brisbane 2015 (English, researchgate.net [PDF]).
  2. ↑ Ben Cashore & Graeme Auld: Forestry Review . In: Mike Barry et al. (Ed.): Toward Sustainability: The Roles and Limitations of Certification . RESOLVE, Inc., Washington, DC 2012, p. A90 .
  3. ^ Mike Barry et al .: Toward Sustainability: The Roles and Limitations of Certification . RESOLVE, Inc., Washington, DC 2012 (English, resolv.org [PDF]).
  4. ↑ a b c d e Steven B. Young: Responsible sourcing of metals: certification approaches for conflict minerals and conflict-free metals . In: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment . 2015, p. 14 , doi : 10.1007 / s11367-015-0932-5 (English, link.springer.com ).