Australia and Japan share their perceptions of ‘responsible’ raw material supply and trade

In November, ISF researchers Stephen Northey, Elsa Dominish and Bernardo Mendonca Severiano organised and delivered a series of workshops in Sendai and Kyoto, Japan.  

The workshops explored the concepts underpinning ‘responsible’ supply chains and trade – and how emerging sustainability governance initiatives can influence international raw material sourcing, supply chains, and trade. 

This is an important discussion for Australia and Japan to have in the context of the energy transition and our strong trading relationship. Schemes such as Responsible Steel and the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative have been adopted by industry in both countries as ways to demonstrate commitment towards best practice governance and management of production systems and supply chains. With growing trade across many of the raw materials used to produce batteries and electric vehicles, there are widespread discussions emerging of how material suppliers and purchasers in different countries will respond to emerging schemes such as the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) or the European Union’s battery passport policies.

ISF’s workshops gave Australian and Japanese stakeholders an opportunity to begin a dialogue about these schemes, and to develop a mutual understanding of each country’s role and the opportunities available to them to to help advance responsible trade.. 

The Japanese workshop participants included representatives from industry and academia, who gained an in-depth understanding of how the concept of ‘responsibility’ is being integrated into the new responsible sourcing schemes. This included an overview of the latest governance initiatives for critical mineral supply chains and how these compare to other sectors, as well as what underpins a credible sustainability initiative. 

Perceptions of Australia’s potential role as a responsible exporter of raw materials, and Japan’s potential role as a responsible importer were also discussed. And the group shared their own perspectives and understanding of responsible sourcing. 

“When we start talking about responsible sourcing, perceptions might go in so many distinct directions - And most of them right. Both Australia and Japan have big roles to play through their extractive and manufacturing industries when it comes to driving increased responsibility . Only through an open dialogue we can start building a shared understanding on what we mean collectively, and we can start addressing problems pragmatically and systemically.” – Bernardo Mendonca Severiano, ISF.

These workshops were supported by the Australia-Japan Foundation and our project partners Prof. Kazuyo Matsubae (Tohoku University), Prof. Ben McLellan (Tokyo University), Dr Masaharu Motoshita (National Institute of Advanced Industrial 

Science and Technology), A/Prof. Yusuke Kishita (University of Tokyo) and Dr Keisuke Nansai (Keisuke Nansai, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan).