Some electric cars are not, currently, as ethically “clean” as manufacturers would have us believe. [A key component of the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries on which electric cars run is cobalt.]
Amnesty International’s research has shown that cobalt mined by children and adults in extremely hazardous conditions could be entering the supply chains of some of the world’s largest carmakers… More than half of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)…
So, what should these companies be doing?… According to [OECD] guidelines, electric car manufacturers and battery makers should be able to say who their [cobalt] smelters or refiners [from high-risk areas like the DRC] are, and should make public their own assessment of whether the smelter’s due diligence practices are adequate in identifying and addressing human rights risks and abuses.
We have contacted many of the largest companies and, not a single car manufacturer told us they had actually done this… The electric car industry must understand that transparency of human rights risks abuses arising in their supply chains is the way forward…
We need to phase out fossil fuels, and electric cars are an integral part of a greener future. But as electric car manufacturers move to the forefront of the market, they need to drastically improve their practices and take steps to ensure that their role in the energy revolution is truly clean and fair… [refers to Apple, HP, Huawei, Huayou Cobalt, Sony, Samsung SDI]
