{"id":1106646,"date":"2019-03-21T11:01:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T11:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=977596"},"modified":"2019-03-21T11:01:26","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T11:01:26","slug":"amnesty-accuses-electric-vehicles-makers-of-using-unethically-sourced-minerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1106646","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty accuses electric vehicles makers of using unethically sourced minerals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Amnesty<\/p>\n

Up to 20% of the DRC\u2019s cobalt is mined by hand, often by children with picks and shovel. (Image: Screenshot from Congo Cobalt Mines
Video | YouTube.<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Human rights advocate\u00a0Amnesty International\u00a0has 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.<\/p>\n

In a report published on Thursday<\/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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s life cycle.<\/p>\n

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.<\/q><\/p>\n

Some leading companies \u2014 including Apple<\/a>, BMW, Daimler, Renault, and battery maker\u00a0Samsung SDI<\/a> \u2014 have already published supply chain data. Amnesty wants others to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe massive global corporations that dominate the electric vehicle industry have the resources and expertise to create energy solutions that are truly clean and fair,\u201d Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International\u2019s Secretary General, said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith 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,\u201d Naidoo said.<\/p>\n

Automakers are investing billions of dollars to ramp up EVs production. German giant Volkswagen, for one, is spending $50 billion to refocus the company on the making of EVs<\/a>, autonomous vehicles and new mobility services.<\/p>\n

The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer plans to raise annual production of EVs to 3 million by 2025, from 40,000 in 2018.<\/p>\n

Eyes on the DRC<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Market estimates see demand for cobalt, a key battery metal, reaching 200,0000 tonnes per year by 2020<\/a>. The problem, says Amnesty, is that no country legally requires companies to publicly report on their cobalt supply chains.<\/p>\n

\"Amnesty<\/p>\n

Courtesy of CRU Group.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

More transparency could help improve working conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which generates more than 60% of the world\u2019s cobalt.<\/p>\n

Much of the country\u2019s 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\u2019s cobalt is mined by hand, often by children with picks and shovels, as a previous Amnesty International\u00a0investigation<\/a>\u00a0showed.<\/p>\n

That research linked those mines to the supply chains of many of the world\u2019s leading electronics brands<\/a> and electric vehicle companies.<\/p>\n

Amnesty said it is collaborating with Greenpeace to identify and map human rights and environmental impacts of EV battery production.<\/p>\n

The post Amnesty accuses electric vehicles makers of using unethically sourced minerals<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rights group also said the EV industry sells itself as environmentally friendly, while most of the batteries they produce use polluting fossil fuels. <\/p>\n

The post Amnesty accuses electric vehicles makers of using unethically sourced minerals<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[394,868,424,405,404,369,426],"tags":[9,32,33,288],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1106646"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1106754,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106646\/revisions\/1106754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1106646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1106646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1106646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}