OECD Integrity Forum: What Standards and Practices Can Prevent Corruption from Infiltrating Critical Mineral Supply Chains?

As part of the 2022 OECD Global Anticorruption & Integrity Forum (GACIF), NRGI and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) organized a panel discussion on anticorruption and critical mineral supply chains on Thursday, 31 March 2022.

The rising demand for the minerals used in green technologies risks triggering a surge in corruption similar to that observed during past commodity booms. Such a surge could undermine the reliable supply of these minerals, thereby threatening global efforts to develop low carbon economies. More than half of the world’s nickel, cobalt and rare earth reserves are located in countries with high levels of corruption, and corruption in mining operations, offtake deals or elsewhere could lead to costly delays and scandals for participants across the supply chain. Corruption in the critical mineral supply chains could also inflict harm on the citizens of producer countries. Past extractive sector corruption has led to lost public revenue and foreign investment, human rights abuses, environmental damage, wavering public trust, political instability and other costs.

Currently, corruption receives relatively limited attention from various critical minerals and green technology supply chain initiatives. Governments, companies, civil society and international organizations and experts have, however, learned a great deal about how to prevent extractive sector corruption. This event will bring together these stakeholders to discuss what kinds of integrity measures are crucial to preventing corruption in these mineral markets, including transparency in revenues, state-owned entreprises governance, beneficial ownership, and how such measures could be advanced.



Speakers:

• Hon Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, deputy minister for energy and member of parliament, Ghana
• Alexandra Gillies, advisor, NRGI
• Claire Harbron, chief investment officer, BHP Foundation
• Jennifer Lewis, deputy director, USAID Anti-Corruption Task Force
• Louis Marechal, sector lead, Minerals & Extractives, OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct
• Jean Pierre Okenda, director of extractive industries at Resource Matters
• Gay Ordenes, Asia director and Anti-Corruption lead, EITI

The webinar was moderated by EITI's Gay Ordenes, Asia director and anticorruption lead, and NRGI's Alexandra Gillies.

The event was in English language with simultaneous translation into French.