Since its passage in July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act has gotten a lot of attention, mostly for its sweeping new regulations affecting the financial industry. But buried in all those pages, in Section 1502 to be exact, is also a small provision aimed at addressing the problem of conflict minerals originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Along with requiring the US Secretary of State to develop a strategy to address the issue, Dodd-Frank requires companies under the jurisdiction of the SEC to report annually on whether they are using minerals from the DRC or its nine immediate neighbors. All companies must also report on the due diligence they have undertaken to verify their supply chain and avoid tainted metals. The SEC has until April 2011 to develop regulations to carry out this mandate.

In December 2010, MSCI ESG Research published an Industry Report on makers of semiconductors and related equipment. Along with other key ESG metrics, we looked at how the 34 firms in this space managed their supply chains. Our analysis included, in the wake of Dodd-Frank, an assessment of company efforts to keep conflict minerals out of their products. We found a wide variation in supply chain-related ESG risk exposure between leaders and laggards; click here to get access to the full report.

On December 2, MSCI ESG senior analyst Olga Emelianova will present “Green is the New Black,” a webinar on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in the global apparel retail sector. (Click here to register for this free event.) While every business faces some universal ESG issues, some concerns are especially relevant to Adidas, The Gap, and their global sector peers.

On October 1, a revised version of China’s State Secrets Law went into effect.  Although little reported in the West, the revised law has serious implications for information and communications technology companies operating in China.  The update includes an article holding network operators and internet service providers (ISPs) responsible for censoring content and turning violators over to authorities.

China’s definition of “state secrets” continues to encompass citizens’ reporting of government corruption, malfeasance, and labor and environmental abuses. ISPs were already required to hand user data over to authorities if “state secrets” were involved, but now they will be expected to actively search user data for “secret” content. Perhaps in anticipation of the new rules, the Telegraph (UK) reported that state-controlled wireless provider China Mobile had begun monitoring the content of users’ text messages earlier this year.

If publicly-traded firms comply with the new law, will investors be complicit in repression? Human rights observers report that the Chinese government has repeatedly detained ordinary people who pass on “secret” information. Complicating the picture for investors is the fact that some state-controlled Chinese firms, like China Mobile, are also publicly traded.

An August 1 article describes the unintended consequences of what should be a success story: California’s ambitious e-waste disposal program. By offering cash to firms who collect and dismantle old computers and TVs, the state has also “built a magnet for fraud totaling tens of millions of dollars, including illegal material smuggled in from out of state,” writes Tom Knudson of McClatchy Newspapers.

Despite its problems, the California program has helped keep 840 million pounds of monitors and TVs out of landfills, according to McClatchy’s research. Domestic dismantling of e-waste is an important step towards stopping an ugly global trade in discarded electronics. While shiny new gadgets flow from Asia to customers in the US and Europe, old ones are shipped back to developing nations, where poor people perform the toxic task of stripping minerals from the machines.

As part of their coverage of the ongoing Gulf crisis, Forbes and BusinessWeek have each reported on how socially responsible investors (SRI) view BP. Both articles cite sources who mention BP’s positive steps in alternative energy development, among other environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.

The RiskMetrics ESG Analytics team (now part of MSCI) maintains a detailed historical record of the ESG practices of thousands of companies worldwide, including BP. While some investors may have been “vexed” by BP's recent struggles, according to BusinessWeek, our research and evaluations have tracked the firm’s labor safety and environmental issues for years. As described by a previous ESG Insight article, SRI/ESG investors may actually have been more prepared than most for the risks of BP's ESG practices.

In response to client inquiries, we’ve compiled here some of the most relevant RiskMetrics ESG indicators and evaluations regarding BP. Much of this information is proprietary, but we can share a snapshot of our work with ESG Insight readers. [Click here to learn how to gain full access to our data.]

From the Appalachians to the Gulf of Mexico to China, industrial workplaces have dominated headlines in recent months. Globalization has reduced the power of developed-world labor and stretched supply chains around the world. This has complicated workers’ efforts to ensure workplace rights and safety.

Last month, RiskMetrics’ New York office hosted “Labor Organization in a Global Economy,” a Sustainability Practice Network event. This panel discussion explored the role of traditional unions in today’s US economy, along with new approaches to managing and improving the global supply chain.

A 13th employee of electronics-producing giant Foxconn has attempted suicide in 2010, according to the Associated Press. This follows a worker leaping to his death on Wednesday, even as Foxconn’s CEO led a tour of its facility, AP’s William Foreman reports.

While few Americans had probably heard of Foxconn before this recent spate of tragedies, its products are among the most familiar in the world. Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Sony are among the firms whose electronic devices are built by Foxconn’s more than 700,000 employees. And the firm’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices have been studied in detail by labor rights groups and other researchers, including the RiskMetrics ESG Analytics team.