The Challenge
Fairphone is a smartphone manufacturer that focuses on creating long-lasting products with ethical and sustainable designs. Fairphone is working towards undertaking a comprehensive and holistic environmental impact assessment of its electronics to inform a targeted approach aimed at reducing its own impact on nature and driving collective action in the industry.
The company had developed an initial materiality screening for nature impacts in the supply chain, integrating life cycle analysis findings and specific commodity sourcing research to present a more detailed and nuanced view of material nature impacts when compared to typical screening approaches in which findings are presented at a more summarised economic activity level. Nature Positive provided a technical review of this approach, alongside identifying opportunities for optimising the methodology further.
Using this updated approach, Fairphone identified seven key component suppliers and three key commodity sourcing regions that required further assessment. Aligned with Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), Nature Positive was contracted to assess the seven component manufacturers alongside a research scope assessing the three key sourcing regions for the likely nature-related risk and opportunity profile.
What we did
Nature Positive worked with Fairphone to refine the company’s materiality methodology and identify appropriate supply chain locations for impactful target setting. We:
- reviewed Fairphone’s detailed approach to materiality screening for nature impacts in the supply chain, incorporating life cycle analysis data and wider industry research
- conducted SBTN step 1 and 2- aligned analysis for prioritised component manufacturing sites to assess the material impacts, state of nature pressures and state of biodiversity to prioritise target boundaries and outline next steps towards setting targets
- conducted spatial analysis at the selected sites and pressure scoring for each site, including state of nature pressures and biodiversity pressures
- created a priority ranking of sites based on the scores across pressures and biodiversity and collaborated with the Fairphone team to discuss strategic considerations to create the final prioritisation of which sites and pressures to select for target setting
- carried out desk-based research and assessment of three key commodity sourcing regions across South America and Asia
- conducted spatial analysis around specific commodity mines to ascertain nature-related risk profile of activities by applying relevant global datasets indicating locational sensitivity, for example deforestation, physical water risk, protected area and species richness/rarity
- conducted desk-based research to identify key stakeholders, active conservation/restoration programmes and potential collaborations for engagement and action on nature in the relevant regions
- identified relevant national, international and sector participants to potentially engage with as stakeholders in addressing impact in Fairphone’s likely commodity sourcing regions
- facilitated a workshop with the Fairphone team to discuss findings and potential next steps with a focus on shaping recommendations when considering target areas for restoration actions and future engagement with potential collaborators.
The difference we made
Nature Positive reviewed and strengthened Fairphone’s methodology to identify its top-impact components, hotspot minerals and priority regions before ranking the most impactful environmental pressures. By applying local state of nature assessments, Nature Positive have provided deeper insights on hotspot manufacturing and mining regions, helping to prioritise next steps. Fairphone has published the results with a call to action for the industry to do the same in its 2026 Impact of Consumer Electronics on Nature and Biodiversity report.