Letter to Hyundai from Concerned Civil Society Organizations
To: José Muñoz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hyundai Motor Company
Dear Mr Muñoz,
We are a network of global environmental and human rights NGOs, Korean civil society organizations, and organizations representing communities around the world that have been negatively impacted by Hyundai Motor’s global supply chain. We share common concerns with regard to the problems in Hyundai’s supply chain.
For several years now, troubling allegations have surfaced regarding the negative impacts of Hyundai’s supply chain, as well as worrisome reports of Hyundai’s wholly inadequate response to the climate crisis. In the wake of LA’s devastating fires exacerbated by climate change and your recent ascension to President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, we implore you to take action.
This week, a damning report on the impacts of Hyundai’s global steel supply chain was published by Mighty Earth. The report documents how Hyundai’s failures to conduct adequate supply chain due diligence and to transition away from the use of coal-based steel in its vehicles are contributing to climate destruction, environmental devastation, human rights abuses, violence against community leaders, and violations of the Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and Free, Prior and Informed Consent in multiple countries across the world, all linked to coal and iron ore mining, as well as steel production, for Hyundai’s global supply chain. Signing this letter are several organizations representing communities that have been negatively impacted by the operations of these suppliers.
The Mighty Earth report includes many examples, including linking Hyundai to its steel supplier Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, responsible for the devastating impacts of the 2016 toxic chemical spill in Vietnam. The Formosa Ha Tinh Steel disaster led to mass fish deaths, devastated local agriculture, and severely impacted the livelihoods of nearly 44,000 families who have been fighting for adequate compensation for years. As a major buyer of Formosa’s steel, Hyundai must ensure the company fulfills its human rights responsibilities, including ensuring full remediation for affected communities, whilst also exercising proper due diligence on the company’s operations to prevent future disasters.
Another report published last month by Action Speaks Louder and Solutions For Our Climate, points to the failings of Hyundai Steel, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, whose greenhouse gas emissions have increased for the past three years, while the portion of production the company derives from coal-fired blast furnaces has also increased, even though the company has set a target to reduce its emissions. The report also criticizes Hyundai Steel for investing USD 580 million in the construction of a new 499 megawatt (MW) gas power plant and for failing to commit to renewable energy, green hydrogen or green iron, despite the undeniable necessity of these technologies in delivering net zero targets for 2050.
Recently we were also alarmed to learn about Hyundai’s suppliers’ use of an exploitative system of prison labor in Alabama, as detailed in a New York Times expose. We were especially dismayed to learn that Hyundai’s suppliers’ response to these allegations was to fire the workers for speaking out about their conditions. Evidence of Hyundai suppliers using child labor was also documented in Alabama. The Alabama Coalition for Community Benefits, with whom we share a deep desire to find solutions to these problems, responded with two letters: one in September 2022 and the other, in August 2023. The coalition requested a meeting to discuss the allegations and work on solutions. They did not receive a response.
Taken together, these many allegations paint the picture of a company that chooses to work with a network of unscrupulous suppliers that are simply not committed to upholding the high standards that Hyundai demands of itself and its suppliers, as outlined in its Global Human Rights Policy, Supplier Code of Conduct, Environmental Management Policy, carbon neutrality targets and support of the Paris Agreement.
When viewed alongside other recent analyses underscoring Hyundai Motor Company’s failure to sufficiently curb its own greenhouse gas emissions, these shortcomings are deeply concerning in light of the catastrophic wildfires that have devastated your US headquarters’ home city Los Angeles, which have been directly linked to fossil fuel-driven climate change.
In the light of these failings, we therefore request a meeting with you to discuss the following solutions we would like to see Hyundai undertake:
Develop an ambitious strategy, with time-bound targets and concrete purchasing agreements, to eliminate coal from Hyundai’s supply chain and replace it with responsible renewable energy and green hydrogen, focusing in particular on the steel used in Hyundai’s vehicles.
Develop and operationalize a significantly strengthened supply chain due diligence system to ensure that suppliers uphold the highest human rights, labor and environmental standards and that unscrupulous suppliers who fail to do so are held to account. This should include a zero-tolerance policy for violence against environmental and human rights defenders, as well as specific measures to ensure that suppliers respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
Regards,
Mighty Earth
Action Speaks Louder
Greenpeace East Asia
Public Citizen
Earthworks
Justice for Formosa Victims
International Monitor Formosa Plastics Alliance
The Fair Steel Coalition
Instituto Cordilheira
Breathe Project
Wildsight
Empower LLC
The Sunrise Project
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1 https://mightyearth.org/article/tainted-steel-the-deadly-consequences-of-hyundais-dirty-steel-supply-chain/
2 https://speakslouder.org/report/rethinking-hyundais-eco-steel-how-fossil-fuels-threaten-the-brand/
3 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/26/business/economy/prison-labor-alabama-hyundai.html
4 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/business/hyundai-supplier-alabama-prison-labor.html
5 https://jobstomoveamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2022.09.22-Alabama-Coalition-sign-on-letter-Hyundai.docx.pdf
6 https://jobstomoveamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Coalition-Letter-to-Hyundai_Aug-27-2023.pdf
7 https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/8567/hyundais-carbon-emissions-increased-by-6-in-2023-a-wake-up-call-for-the-climate/; https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/8761/hyundais-rising-emissions-in-key-markets-like-india-risks-fueling-climate-disaster/; https://carbontracker.org/reports/oil-companies-in-disguise-2024-edition/
8 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9qy4knd8wo.amp
