child labor taints production of batteries for electric carmakers, amnesty says - energy storage companies

London, Lin Taylor (
Thomson Reuters Foundation-
Amnesty International said on Friday that major electric car manufacturers may unknowingly use child labor to produce car batteries, which are increasingly popular for using clean energy designed to limit global warming.
The human rights watchdog said that cobalt in lithium-ion batteries used for electric vehicles, telephones and laptops may come from mines in Congo (Kim (DRC)
Child Labor.
It blamed carmakers including GM and Renault.
Nissan, Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen, Daimler and Tesla failed to map the cobalt supplied by Congo mines to smelters and batteriesmakers.
As a result, electric vehicles sold globally may contain traces of metal produced annually in Congo's informal mines, and these companies are not aware, the group said.
"We have found that cobalt mined by children has the potential to enter their supply chain," said Mark dammit, a human rights researcher at Amnesty International . ".
As consumer goods such as electric vehicles and mobile phones are increasingly in demand for lithium-ion batteries, dammit said automakers are obliged to track the supply chain to ensure that children are not used to extracting cobalt.
"Frankly, it is the company's responsibility to keep consumers transparent about their supply and to plan their supply chain to let them know where the supply comes from, he said in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Amnesty International says more than half of the world's cobalt is from Congo and 20% of the minerals are mined manually.
Millions of Congolese are engaged in informal mining, with poor tools and often without legal authorization.
They often look in the waste pile of big mines.
The metal supply in Congo has been under review since 2010, when US law required the United StatesS. -
Listed companies to ensure that their supply chain from these
Known as "conflict minerals ".
However, there is not much concern about the regulation of cobalt, although Congo is more than half the source of global supply. Dozens of armed groups roam the eastern part of the country.
Volkswagen, the largest car manufacturer (VW)
The company told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that it was investigating whether cobalt from its electric vehicle battery was being mined in Congo.
"As far as we know, the cobalt in our batteries is not from the corresponding source of the DRC.
As far as we know, there are no human rights violations in our cobalt supply chain, "said Leslie Boch, a spokesman for the public.
Tesla said its batteries contained "very little" cobalt, adding that an in-depth investigation into the use of child labor in their supply chain was "unusual and challenging ".
"We have asked DRC companies that produce this trace of cobalt deep in our supply chain to provide us directly with written documentation on their practices, and Tesla spokesman georgegeson told Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"The document confirms that child labor or forced labor or human trafficking is prohibited.
GM said in a statement that it had a "zero"
A policy of tolerance for child labor and other unethical business practices, requiring suppliers to comply in writing.
Mercedes maker Daimler also told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that it is investigating "the processes and measures our suppliers have taken to prevent this so-called practice in their upstream supply chain ".
But Amnesty International's dammit said that while many electric vehicle manufacturers have human rights policies, they are reluctant to publicly disclose the measures they are taking, if any, to actively prevent child labor in the supply chain.
Prototypes and plans for clean energy electric vehicles are increasingly popular and dominate this year's Paris auto show as the drop in battery costs has convinced executives and investors
In the vehicle ready to go mainstream.
The Climate Action Tracker, the leading body to monitor the government's climate action, said the last gasoline
To put the world on track to limit global warming, electric vehicles will have to sell about 2035.
On last December, world leaders set a goal at the Paris summit to limit the temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3. 6 Fahrenheit)above pre-
The industrial times is "working hard" for more difficult goals. 5 C (2. 7F)ceiling.
"We are not saying that people should not buy these electric cars," Dummet said . ".
"But consumers who buy these products should expect these very wealthy companies. . .
Absolutely capable of doing this due diligence to plan their supply chain. "(
Lin Taylor, edited by Katie Nguyen and Timothy Raj, @ Linni tailes, reports;
Please thank the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a Thomson Reuters charity that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights and climate change.
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