Meet our new member from the US!
We are excited to welcome a new member to the ECOS Network: Earthworks is an organisation focused on preventing the destructive impacts of the extraction of oil, gas, and minerals.
Would you like to get to know them better? Read our short Q&A with Benjamin Hitchcock Auciello, International Mining Standards and Policy Advocate at Earthworks!
Could you briefly introduce yourself to the network? What is the mission of Earthworks and which are your main activities?
Since 1988, Earthworks has worked alongside communities to secure protections of their health, land, water, and air from extractive industries. We are the only national organization in the U.S. to focus exclusively on preventing the destructive impacts of the extraction of oil, gas, and minerals.
Our mining team also works internationally to hold the mining industry to account for its safety, human rights, and environmental practices. We fight for communities’ right to make decisions about mine projects that will affect their wellbeing, livelihoods, and territories. We work in coalition to pressure companies purchasing minerals to clean up their supply chains and demand governments prioritize policies that protect communities and the environment, including by enacting circular economy solutions.
Earthworks is a member of the SIRGE Coalition, which aims to ensure Indigenous Peoples rights, especially the right to self-determination, are respected in the global transition to a green economy. Earthworks is also a member of Lead the Charge, an international coalition of human rights and environmental organizations that ranks companies’ environmental and human rights performance in order to drive improvements across the supply chain.
What is your main interest in joining the ECOS network?
We are inspired by the work that ECOS does in the standardisation space. There has been a growing amount of activity in ISO regarding mining practices, both social and environmental, and we are keenly interested in monitoring and engaging in these processes. However, ISO is an inaccessible space for NGOs like Earthworks. By joining ECOS, we hope to be able to contribute to ECOS’s work with ISO. We are very grateful for the expertise, resources, and capacity that the ECOS team is able to provide in making standardisation more accessible for civil society actors.
Here at ECOS, we are very much looking forward to cooperating with Earthworks!
Would you like to learn more about ECOS members? Have a look here. Are you interested in membership? Click here!
