Source : Procurement Leaders
Apple has reached an agreement with a Chinese environmental group to conduct a joint pollution audit one of the company’s supplier factories in China
The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), a group based in Beijing, said on Monday that US tech giant Apple had agreed to the joint audit, to be held at a manufacturer of printed circuit boards at the end of the month, and which will act as a pilot for future audits.
IPE will be working with Apple and an auditing firm hired to investigate the supplier’s pollution controls, said Wang Jing Jing, vice director for the Chinese environmental group. The results will later be made available online by IPE.
Last month, Apple backed a report by the Fair Labor Association that recommended improvements in working conditions at three Foxconn factories in China where its products are made.
Apple was the only one of 29 companies that failed to respond to a 2010 report by an IPE-led environmental coalition on hazardous wastes from suppliers causing pollution and health problems in China.
The audit is only a pilot project meant for one supplier factory at this point. But the environmental group hopes Apple will agree to more joint audits in the future, Wang said.
"We think this is a very positive step made by Apple," she said. "We hope this won’t simply be a pilot project, but that more open inspections will continue."
IPE and other Chinese environmental groups have criticised Apple for allegedly failing to stop the environmental damage caused by its suppliers in China. But last year, Apple held discussions with the groups to address the concerns, according to IPE.
Apple decided to hire a third-party auditing firm to investigate some of its suppliers, but the results were not fully shared with the public, Wang said.