In Utrecht and Rotterdam the designs for the squares are almost finished. Liesbeth Unger: ‘Here, we can incorporate sustainability criteria for the project in the procurement stage. We have agreed that we are involved in the contracts with the suppliers of materials, e.g. stainless steel, concrete and natural stones. For these materials there are no certification systems. By entering into the contracts we agree on, the suppliers are committing to making improvements in the supply chain of their products. These improvement must be in line with the basic standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO); promoting issues such as freedom of association, for example.’For the Beukenplein in Amsterdam, Sustainable Squares was already involved prior to the design stage. In January, discussions were held with the Amsterdam East project group about which social and environmental criteria are important for the sustainability of the square. Next the project group formulated their own wishes and ambitions. The factsheets about materials (in Dutch language) that were compiled by SOMO could help the project group reach their decisions.
Liesbeth Unger: ‘That session was very interesting. To reduce social risks, for example that of child labour, they selected as a criterion that all products for the construction and furnishing of the square need to be manufactured within 1500km of the square. We are not sure if this will also be feasible. In Utrecht, again, this kind of choice was made in the procurement of natural stone. They picked a stone that is only available in Spain. The council said it would be a nice bonus that this also meant social and sustainability issues were taken care of. While this is logical, it also rather bypasses the purpose of this project. Sustainable Squares, after all, is about stimulating large companies to bring about improvements in their production chains.’
The project group had a lot of questions about how one is supposed to measure or recognise sustainability. International engineering consultancy Royal Haskoning has offered the East district of Amsterdam a tool that may help make sustainability issues visible. Liesbeth Unger will be speaking with Royal Haskoning soon to discuss the options for incorporating social criteria in this tool. ‘Moreover, it would be nice if this tool would also be used by other communities.’
Around the Beukenplein, civilians and shopkeepers are now also chipping into the discussion. In this way, Sustainable Squares contributes to raising a greater awareness of the importance of choosing sustainable materials. Liesbeth Unger: ‘We hope this will help all participants recognise from the start the importance of social and environmental criteria in sustainable procurement, and that we will be able to see the results in the procurement contracts.’
]]>None of the energy companies analysed in the report – E.ON, Vattenfall/Nuon, GDF Suez/Electrabel, RWE/Essent, DONG Energy and EPZ (DELTA) – are transparent about the specific mines where their coal comes from. “If companies are open about the coal chain, human rights violations and pollution in the coal chain can be prevented. But the electricity companies refuse to publish this information and as a result are not following recommendations laid out in international standards for supply chain transparency such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Companies”, says Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, Senior Researcher at SOMO.
One and a half years ago, the electricity companies initiated the Dutch Coal Dialogue (DCD) promising to increase transparency in the supply chain. The DCD was formed after the Dutch current affairs television programme Netwerk highlighted the issue and the Lower House of Parliament debated so-called ‘blood coal’ from Colombia and South Africa. In a debate with the State Secretary, a majority of the Lower House said it wanted more transparency in the coal chain. However, with the mandate of the DCD set to expire in six months, the DCD has yet to book a single concrete result with regard to transparency. Wilde-Ramsing: “If the companies quickly muster the will to provide more information, the deadline can still be met. The government can help the matter by implementing legislation that requires supply chain transparency.”
Using a survey among electricity companies and request under the Dutch Freedom of Information Act (WOB), SOMO discovered that Colombia, Australia, the USA, South Africa and Russia are the five largest coal suppliers to the Dutch market. At the same time that the importance of Colombian and Russian coal is increasing, several recent studies and reports reveal flagrant abuses of human rights and the environment in coal mines in these countries.
Rolf Schipper, Coordinator of Greenpeace’s Climate & Energy Campaign: “Nobody wants their electricity to be linked to evictions of people from their villages in other countries or serious air, water and soil pollution. It is therefore of utmost importance that there be transparency about the origin of coal. If energy companies such as RWE/Essent, E.ON, GDF Suez/Electrabel and C.GEN continue to build new coal-fired power stations, the capacity for coal-based electricity generation in the Netherlands will more than double, and the urgency of transparent coal supply chains will increase.”
]]>Ultimately, the beneficiaries of the project are the people who work in the computer industry in developing countries. Through a variety of strategies and activities - including research, lobby, media work, including active use of social media 2.0, publications, documentaries & clips, and campaigning - the Procure IT Fair project has contributed to increasing the awareness on the appalling working conditions and environmental issues in the global electronics supply chain. The main targeted audiences of the Procure IT Fair project throughout Europe included purchasers and policy makers with local governments and institutions of higher education; public procurement bodies; students and teachers; computer brands, IT service providers, and the media.
Procure IT Fair has effectively demonstrated that these different groups can contribute to improving labour conditions in the computer industry via sustainable public procurement. As a result of the Procure IT Fair campaign, for instance, universities and universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands have agreed to start including working conditions in computer production, where so far sustainable purchasing of computers focused primarily on environmental aspects.
Procure IT Fair has done research into labour conditions in the computer industry. In 2009, The dark side of cyberspace. Inside the sweatshops of China’s computer hardware production, was published, looking into working conditions, wage and overtime at Excelsior Electronics, a Chinese supplier to Fujitsu. In 2010, Under Pressure – Working Conditions and Economic Development in ICT Production in Central and Eastern Europe came out about, detailing the role of migrant workers, the enormous work pressure, extremely flexible working time requirements and poor pay in the ICT industry in Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. Also in 2010, research was issued on the abominable working and living conditions of migrant labour in the Malaysian computer industry: Migration in a Digital Age.
Procure IT Fair has published buyers guides providing public purchasers with practical guidance to include social criteria in public tenders for computers. These ‘Buy IT Fair guides’ are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Finnish, Hungarian, Czech and Dutch. All versions have been adapted to the respective national contexts.
Procure IT Fair has also produced footage, including documentaries and video clips. Digital handcraft from 2008 shows working conditions in computer factories in China. In Blue elephants, made in 2010, the dire labour and living conditions of migrants working for Dell, HP, Intel and other well known brands in Malaysia are shown. work. In the entertaining video clip Senor Pezzi buys global the link between is made the work of a commercial purchaser and the daily reality behind the computers he intends to buy.
Procure IT Fair has gathered and published best practices of public institutions and other organisations in Europe that take into account social considerations in the purchasing of computers, such as adherence to the ILO Core Conventions. These best practices show that it is possible to include social considerations when practically procuring computers. The section on the Procure IT Fair website where these best practices are published will be maintained throughout 2011.
It is a promising and encouraging development that public procurement is increasingly used as a tool to improve labour conditions in the global supply chain of electronics. While many challenges still lie ahead, we are convinced these can be dealt with by ambitious policies – on European, national and regional levels - and the practical implementation of social criteria in tenders by cities and institutions.
The Procure IT Fair project partners will continue to work on sustainable public procurement of computers and labour issues in the global electronics industry.
]]>The examples presented here include cases of public authorities and other organisations formulating social criteria in tendering procedures. Such social criteria may be included on the level of the award criteria or in the contract performance clauses. Examples include the city of Zurich (Switzerland), Stuttgart (Germany), Baerum (Norway) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS (France).
There are also examples of public authorities and other organisations developing progressive policies regarding sustainable public procurement by including references to social and labour issues, including working conditions throughout the supply chain. Such policies may not yet have been implemented in actual tenders, but at least the framework is in place. Examples include Manresa (Spain), Dusseldorf, Berlin (Germany), Bern (Switzerland), as well as energy distributor Alliander (the Netherlands Berlin (Germany).
Not all examples presented are as ambitious as the approach propagated by Procure IT Fair. Innovative and progressive examples are still hard to find. Sustainable public procurement of ICT hardware is not yet happening on a wide scale. In Eastern and Central Europe, for example, sustainable public procurement is not yet put into practice. Also it is not easy to get this information. It is not easily found in the public domain, and public authorities and other organisations do not always like to share tender documents.
On the 'Best Practices' web page examples are given from he following countries:
The examples are illustrated with relevant background documents, including, where possible, original tender documents.
Click here to go to the best Practices web page.
SOMO will continue to work on sustainable public procurement of IT hardware. This site will be maintained and information will be updated. Your comments are welcome, and you are invited to share relevant information with us. Please contact us at info@somo.nl, mentioning ‘Procure IT Fair’.
]]>In essence, the IT Company Monitor collects news items and gives them a positive or negative evaluation. It purposely does not make evaluations of companies as Procure IT Fair feels that any ranking or evaluation of companies is by definition based on incomplete information. Therefore, the campaign has chosen to only evaluate single developments and provide a picture of the developments of issues these companies are faced with.
The IT Company Monitor’s primary target group are procurement officers and policy makers at public institutions. Procure IT Fair aims to use the leverage that public institutions have because of their large buying power to enhance the sustainability at production sites throughout the electronics supply chain. As large consumers, these professional buyers can only make the appropriate choice when thoroughly informed. This independent easy-to-use tool enables buyers to make their judgements on independent news sources, rather than only corporate communication. Clearly, the information available can also be very useful for other organizations working on environmental issues, working conditions and human rights in the electronics supply chain.
Procure IT Fair is a European network of civil society aiming to enhance sustainability in the supply chain of IT hardware through public procurement. The campaign is active in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, The Netherlands and Hungary.
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