The Enough Project, an anti-genocide nonprofit organization, released a report this week on the use of conflict minerals among leading technology manufacturers. Titled "Taking Conflict Out of Consumer Gadgets," the report assesses and ranks each company based on efforts to eradicate conflict minerals from their supply chains. Intel, HP, Apple, and Motorola were among the organization's highest-ranked firms, while HTC, Sharp, Nikon, and Nintendo were ranked at or near the bottom, having made little or no progress in recent years.

The Enough Project ranked each company based on its efforts to trace and audit supply chains, as well as its environmental certifications. The organization also considered each company's support for stronger legislation on mineral sourcing. Since December 2010, when the Enough Project released its previous rankings report, most manufacturers have made progress in mitigating the use of conflict minerals (see graphic, below), though none can yet label its products as completely "conflict-free."

Signs of optimism

The Enough Project identified Intel and HP among its "pioneers of progress," lauding the former for its pledge to produce a conflict-free microprocessor by the year 2013, and the latter for its efforts to foster a healthier, less corrupt mining industry within the DRC. Apple also received a nod for being the first firm to publicly announce the number of smelters in its supply chain, and for leading a smelter training program. On the other side of the ledger were "laggards" like Sharp, HTC, Nikon, and Canon, whose progress "remains far behind industry leaders," along with Nintendo, which "has made no known effort to trace or audit its supply chain."