Voluntary Mining Standards Can Derisk Supply Chains and Protect Human Rights
By Abhilasha Bhola
The Trump administration’s minerals policy has been defined by corruption, rollbacks of environmental protections, and handouts to foreign mining companies. These critical minerals are of growing importance for new technologies such as electric vehicles, grid storage batteries, semiconductor chips and military applications. Increased mineral demand is likely driven by the energy transition and increased defense spending. Yet even in the absence of strong laws and regulations, automakers and other downstream buyers of critical minerals can leverage their power to require stronger site-level practices of their suppliers through contractual obligations and the use of robust voluntary standard systems.
However, not all voluntary industry standards are created or managed equally. Discrepancies between standard systems in their level of rigor, transparency, and governance systems impact the quality of information gleaned in audit processes. This in turn has negative consequences for automakers who use this information as part of a due diligence process to fulfill their responsible sourcing commitments.
Voluntary standards or schemes cannot replace the need for legal requirements imposed on companies, but they can help improve company accountability and supply chain transparency and promote continuous improvement. Many automakers already use voluntary schemes for these purposes. Lead the Charge’s annual scorecard ranks the top 18 automakers on their supply chain practices. The 2024 edition of the Leaderboard found that 78% of the automakers it evaluated used at least one such scheme. Automakers, like Mercedes-Benz, are proactively identifying how to improve their minerals sourcing policies. Mercedes financed studies on how to better engage with communities in their supply chains and more effectively leverage insights from the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) audit reports. The findings from these reports were then integrated into the company’s policies and practices.
Dedication to continuous improvement and the ability for a voluntary scheme to support it is in large part dependent on how the system is governed. IRMA is governed by a board representative of Indigenous peoples, labor unions, frontline communities, human rights advocates, mining companies, and downstream purchasers with equal decision-making power. Downstream purchasers like automakers, tech companies, and jewelry companies can choose to source minerals from certified mines to ensure they are engaging in responsible supply chain practices. As we see with Mercedes-Benz, this form of governance allows for collaboration that drives improvements.
The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative Undermines Human Rights and Environmental Protections
The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) is a proposed industry-led mining standard and certification scheme that falls far below existing standards, international human rights law, and current industry commitments, and risks reversing years of progress. While the initiative aims to harmonize existing standards, concerns have been raised by civil society and expert organizations about the strength of its provisions and the level of protection it offers for Indigenous peoples, local communities, and workers’ rights, as well as for nature and biodiversity. If the CMSI is adopted, hundreds of mining companies around the world will be able to “certify” their projects as responsible without meaningfully addressing environmental harms and human rights abuses.
When industries write their own rules, communities and the environment are harmed. ICMM is one of the largest metal and mining industry trade associations, representing over a third of all global metal and mining industry companies. The ICMM developed its own voluntary industry standard called The Copper Mark, which has certified mines with documented community objections, environmental destruction, and human rights violations. In 2024, the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia, which is located on the land of the Indigenous Cek Bocek/Selesek Reen Sury people, was certified as “responsibly produced copper” by The Copper Mark. In 2025, the Cek Bocek people filed a complaint with The Copper Mark alleging direct and systemic violations of The Copper Mark’s own assurance criteria.
Weak voluntary standards are legitimized by downstream, consumer-facing companies that often face reputational risk when human rights violations occur upstream in the absence of real guardrails. These companies have the power to push for stronger voluntary standards and to withhold affiliation with weak standards that greenwash destructive mining processes.
Some Automakers Are Leading on Human Rights Due Diligence
Lead the Charge’s most recent scorecard found that some automakers are leading on human rights due diligence by adopting specialized policies and practices for high-risk mineral supply chains and committing to sourcing from IRMA-certified mines. For example, some automakers are disclosing their plans for mitigating environmental and human rights risks associated with the lithium supply chain and mandating that lithium is sourced from IRMA-certified mines. These automakers are demonstrating to governments that better mining standards are achievable, while proving to mining companies that demand exists for strong environmental and human rights protections.
The Mining Industry’s Influence Is Growing; Urgent Action Is Necessary to Protect Communities and the Environment
According to the United Nations, minerals and metals mining and processing account for 17% percent of greenhouse gas emissions, 80% of biodiversity loss, and almost a quarter of global pollution. Global Witness reports that since 2012, more people have been killed opposing mining than any other industry.
The harms of mining particularly impact Indigenous peoples and communities in the Global South. They severely impact Indigenous peoples’ territories, cultures, ways of lives, and governance systems, leaving a legacy that negatively impacts future generations.
As the role of mining and the footprint of mining operations expand, it is critical that the mining industry and its operations are governed by strong laws and robust and enforceable standards. Actors across the supply chain—from government regulators to consumers to mineral purchasers—all have a role to play in ensuring minerals are responsibly sourced.