Up to 20% of the DRC鈥檚 cobalt is mined by hand, often by children with picks and shovel. (Image: Screenshot from )
Human rights advocate聽Amnesty International聽has accused the electric vehicle (EV) industry of selling itself as environmentally friendly, while most of the batteries they produce use polluting fossil fuels and unethically sourced minerals.
In a , the rights group says manufacturing batteries can be carbon intensive, while the extraction of minerals used in them has been linked to human rights violations such as child labour.
Amnesty has outlined a vision for battery production that can result in ethical and sustainably produced batteries within five years. That process involves extraction, ethical manufacturing, reuse and recovery of batteries, and a prohibition on deep-sea mining.
The group called on companies to publicly disclose information about how human rights abuses and environmental risks are being prevented, identified and addressed throughout the lithium-ion battery鈥檚 life cycle.
The group argues that unregulated industry practices for the extraction of minerals used in lithium-ion batteries have led to human rights abuses and environmental damage
Some leading companies 鈥� including , BMW, Daimler, Renault, and battery maker聽 鈥� have already published supply chain data. Amnesty wants others to do the same.
鈥淭he massive global corporations that dominate the electric vehicle industry have the resources and expertise to create energy solutions that are truly clean and fair,鈥� Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International鈥檚 Secretary General, said in .
鈥淲ith demand for batteries soaring, now is the time for a drastic overhaul of our energy sources that prioritizes protection of human rights and the environment,鈥� Naidoo said.
Automakers are investing billions of dollars to ramp up EV production. German giant Volkswagen, for one, is , autonomous vehicles and new mobility services.
The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer plans to raise annual production of EVs to 3 million by 2025, from 40,000 in 2018.
Eyes on the DRC
Market estimates see demand for cobalt, a key battery metal, reaching . The problem, says Amnesty, is that no country legally requires companies to publicly report on their cobalt supply chains.
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More transparency could help improve working conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which generates more than 60% of the world鈥檚 cobalt.
Much of the country鈥檚 production is sent to China to be processed by multiple companies before it is used in batteries. In addition, up to 20% of the DRC鈥檚 cobalt is mined by hand, often by children with picks and shovels, as a 听蝉丑辞飞别诲.
That research linked those mines to the supply chains of and electric vehicle companies.
Amnesty said it is collaborating with Greenpeace to identify and map human rights and environmental impacts of EV battery production.