Internal Management Systems
●
Within our global organization, our operating businesses
are directly responsible for executing
our conflict
minerals activities with support from
a central project management team including
representatives from
legal and finance.
The representatives from each of our
operating businesses come
from various
backgrounds and have access to the full
resources within their respective
businesses, including the research
and development, the engineering
and the production departments.
During 2022, managers from each
of the
group’s four businesses were responsible for the execution
of the program. The program was
overseen by a
cross-functional Steering Committee
and sponsored at the Group
Executive Committee level.
●
We provide ABB-specific web-based training courses to relevant employees.
These are customized for
specific employee groups (management,
buyers, engineering, research
and development, product sales and
other). Each operating business’s conflict minerals leader
identifies
key conflict minerals personnel to
undergo mandatory training on conflict minerals.
Company Level Grievance Mechanism
●
We maintained our company-wide integrity reporting channels,
such as the ABB Business Ethics
Helpline,
which is available for the reporting
of any violations of our Supplier
Code of Conduct
including in relation
to conflict minerals. The service provides
a grievance mechanism and is
maintained by an independent
third party. It can be used by ABB employees as well as parties
outside ABB, such as suppliers.
The
service allows for online reporting at www.compliancestakeholder.com
and also provides a country-
specific telephone number if this method
of reporting is preferred.
Step 2: Identify and assess risks in
the supply chain
To identify risks in the supply chain, we performed the following:
Use best efforts to identify the smelters/refiners
in the supply chain
In 2022, we aimed to identify the smelters/refiners
in our supply chain through the survey
of approximately 3,000
relevant suppliers as described below. These suppliers identified
345 smelters/refiners of 3TG that were
potentially in
their supply chains. Our list of these
smelters/refiners is included in Annex I,
including a summary of their validation
status under RMI’s Responsible Minerals Assurance
Process (RMAP).
Identify the scope of the risk assessment
of the 3TG supply chain
In 2022, we utilized our customized systems
to track the link between the
components purchased from our suppliers
and our products allowing us to
make a focused selection of the relevant
suppliers of 3TG. Purchased components
were
evaluated, using ABB experts, including
product engineers, material
experts and research and development
personnel, to
determine if the component was likely
to contain 3TG. These identified
components were then categorized into
different
levels of risk, depending on the likelihood
of 3TG content, the volume
of transactions with the supplier
and the total value
of the components purchased. Based on
these evaluations, and the enhanced
data available from our information
systems,
we identified the relevant suppliers
and prioritized which suppliers to survey,
focusing on the highest-risk
suppliers in
terms of 3TG content and amount of products
purchased. These suppliers
were surveyed using the CMRT, as part of the
RCOI described in Form SD.
Assess whether the suppliers have
carried out all the elements of
due diligence for responsible supply
chains of
3TG from conflict-affected and high-risk
areas
We have a structured process to send
and receive supplier surveys, follow up
on non-responses, summarize survey
results, and identify and respond to red
flags. Using the CMRT, we surveyed
the selected suppliers to gather
information
about smelters/refiners in their supply
chain and provide us
with a list of those smelters/refiners. For
most of our