Our Actions | ACER ESG
Our Actions
Responsible minerals sourcing continues to be a major focus for Acer. We believe that it is our responsibility to respect the human rights of others and to address adverse human rights impacts that exist where we do business and within our area of influence. As a program that began with a focus on tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold (3TG) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Acer’s Responsible Minerals Sourcing program has expanded to a program capable of addressing any minerals identified by Acer that involve social and environmental risks.
Priority Mineral Survey and Action
Acer has established Responsible Minerals Due Diligence and Reporting Procedure and Responsible Minerals Risk Management Plan, which are reviewed and updated annually and serve as internal guidelines for the management of responsible mineral sourcing. In 2022, Acer’s responsible minerals sourcing program continued to include 3TG, cobalt, and mica as prioritized minerals in its responsible sourcing strategy. These determinations are based on the prevalence in our products and the sourcing from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRAs). Acer will continue to reassess its priority minerals as well as be involved in the refining of the procedures to identify CAHRAs. In 2024, Acer issued its 13rd consolidated responsible minerals report, outlining the steps taken to conduct due diligence on all of its priority minerals
2024 Due Diligence Results
Tantalum, Tin, Tungsten and Gold
As a result of our responsible minerals due diligence measures and the collection of supply chain information for the current 2024 data cycle, we were able to identify 219 unique smelters of 3TG in our supply chain, all of which were either conformant to or participating (i.e., RMAP-committed) in a third party certification mechanism.
Cobalt and Mica
As part of its responsible minerals program, cobalt and mica continue to be an additional focus for Acer due to the child labor associated with cobalt mining, the environmental and social impacts of mining and processing mica, and the necessity of these minerals to the functionality of Acer batteries, hard drives and external coatings. In 2024, due to the maturation in transparency of the cobalt supply chain, Acer set a goal for its cobalt processors to achieve a conformant or participating rate of 65%. As a result of its due diligence measures in 2024, Acer was able to identify 67 unique cobalt refiners in its supply chain. The RMAP status improved to 48 RMAP-conformant, 6 participating and 13 that will require outreach, reaching a conformant or participating rate of 81%, thereby exceeding its goal. For mica, Acer was able to identify 6 unique mica processors, of which 3 are conformant and 2 are participating.
Other Activities
Acer also continued using the Risk Readiness Assessment (RRA) tool, jointly developed by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and the Copper Mark Version 3.0 was published on October 19th 2023, and went into effect on January 1st 2024. The RRA consists of 33 criteria organized into the three pillars of Environmental, Social & Governance, and are applicable to any company in the supply chain, regardless of their types of operations. This includes mining, metal processing, downstream manufacturing, and recycling and the criteria are mineral agnostic. The tool allows Acer to compare suppliers’, smelters’ and mines’ performance against the criteria, improving our ability to assess and manage ESG risk in our minerals supply chain. At the same time, it allows Acer to engage with suppliers further up the supply chain, which has been a challenge, and also allows the smelter to connect with and have visibility of the downstream companies that use the materials that they place on the market. This helps to define the ESG expectations and emphasize the value of the RMI assessments available. At the time of the writing of this report, Acer has received 188 RRAs.
Acer Smelter Statistics (3TG)
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conformant | 238 | 238 | 227 | 228 | 214 |
Participating Smelters | 11 | 24 | 17 | 5 | 5 |
Smelters Requiring Outreach | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Total | 249 | 262 | 244 | 235 | 219 |
Percentage of Conformant Smelters | 96% | 91% | 93% | 97% | 98% |
Percentage of Conformant or Participating Smelters(DRC conflict free) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 100% |
Acer Smelter Statistics (Cobalt)
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conformant | 9 | 23 | 33 | 45 | 48 |
Participating Smelters | 17 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
Smelters Requiring Outreach | 5 | 24 | 20 | 18 | 13 |
Total | 31 | 62 | 62 | 69 | 67 |
Percentage of Conformant or Participating Smelters(DRC conflict free) | 84% | 61% | 68% | 74% | 81% |
Acer continues to follow the OECD Due Diligence Guidance as the basis for its conflict minerals management program and seeks to implement program elements that strengthen Acer’s conformance to those guidelines. We also continue to conduct smelter outreach and communicate smelter details and the results of our efforts to the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) Smelter Engagement Team (SET), as we believe the smelter/refinery identification and disposition are critical components of our due diligence procedure and of maintaining RMAP smelter data. Acer is a member of the SET team and conducts research on global alleged smelters to help determine if they meet the definition of smelters and if they are eligible for the RMAP program.
Acer continued its involvement in the PPA, a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder advocacy group that aims to publicize the issue of conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the African Great Lakes Region and propose supply chain solutions. In November of 2024, Acer attended the thirteenth annual multi-stakeholder membership meeting and was among 34 attendees. The meeting objectives were to connect, network, and build relationships among responsible sourcing and sustainability leaders withing the membership; reflect on the PPA’s progress and evolving context driving the revised operational and strategic approach; learn by sharing knowledge on key challenges and solutions in the sector; and identify impactful actions for the PPA members to collaborate on undertaking in the coming year and beyond. The meeting also featured presentations on the state of the PPA and project updates, and included membership discussions and feedback.
Acer continues to believe that working together as an industry and in partnership with all stakeholders is the most efficient way to enable success at driving meaningful improvement in the social and environmental conditions associated with raw materials extraction.
