Electric cars can play an important role in the transformation of the transport sector towards a fossil free future. But producing batteries for these vehicles comes with serious social and environmental costs. A truly just transformation of transport requires reducing our material footprint. This means focusing on more and better public transport, and fundamentally changing our relationship to cars. Transport plays a key role in the energy transition, as it … Read More
We analyse the working conditions in which electronic equipment is produced by factory workers in the Philippines The feminization of labour in the manufacturing sector has been a global trend in recent decades, extending to many economic sectors, including electronics. The report highlights that female workers in electronics factories, in this case in the Philippines, tend to have less access to education and fewer employment alternatives with respect to men, … Read More
In order to face the challenge posed by the growing volume of production of electrical and electronic equipment, we collect various proposals aimed at public administration, companies and manufacturers and consumers. WeEE is the type of waste that is growing the most in the world. In 2019, an average of 53.6 million tons (Mt) of WEEE was generated globally, which means 7.3 kg per person. The global generation of … Read More
The Danish journalistic group Danwatch reveals in a report prepared on the ground and coordinated by SETEM Catalunya that the migrant staff of a factory in Malaysia, supplier of the main chip producers in Europe and the USA, suffer from situations of forced labor, violent threats, passport retention and significant salary deductions. Witnesses about the conditions of slavery that are lived in the Malay factories have long been known. Although … Read More
The Danish journalistic group Danwatch reveals in a report elaborated on the ground and coordinated by SETEM Catalunya how our increasing demand for lithium for the manufacture of smartphones and electric cars has serious environmental impacts in the Atacama Desert, Chile. We present an investigation through different articles, reports and other audiovisual formats, on how the extraction of lithium for the batteries of our computers, telephones and electric vehicles … Read More
The guide offers practical guidance for public administrations to incorporate sustainability criteria in all phases of a public competition, with special emphasis on social criteria. The increasing digitalisation of public administrations has made computers increasingly an indispensable tool in all their offices and dependencies. For this reason, public institutions have become a very important client of large computer brands. Every day more shopping departments are exploring new products and … Read More
This DanWatch research, supported by SETEM, describes the working conditions of four Dell-branded supplier factories in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu. The labour rights violations discovered violate ILO principles, Chinese labour law, the Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC) criteria and Dell’s own standards. China, and specifically the city of Shenzen – in Guangdong province – has become the world factory. Electronics is one of the sectors that … Read More
We show the complex functioning of the production network, who are the key actors, and how consumers – especially public administrations – can cope with the labour violations that occur in the electronics supply chain. The report highlights the role played by both the electronics industry and the potential of public procurement in improving working conditions in the sector. This research examines the ICT expenditure made by public buyers … Read More
