Monday

2nd Oct 2023

Opinion

Is EU poised to solve child labour in 'green' batteries?

  • One of the ingredients for your smartphone. Cobalt mining by hand near Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo, often unregulated, with child labour as young as seven years old (Photo: Amnesty International)

The European Commission is currently wrapping up consultations on a new law that could shape the future of green energy.

If adopted, the EU Battery Regulation would require all businesses in the battery industry to report on the social and environmental impact of their operations.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Electric cars. In 2017, Amnesty researchers found that companies including Renault and Volkswagen were failing to ask basic questions about where the cobalt in their batteries came from (Photo: Yadid Levy / Nordic Council)

It would ensure that batteries entering the EU market – for use in electric cars, smartphones, solar panels, and much more – are responsibly sourced and sustainable.

Businesses would have to show, for example, that the minerals in their batteries do not indirectly finance armed groups or child labour, and that their supply chains are free of corruption.

The law would be a pillar of Europe's Green New Deal, and it is long overdue.

The World Bank found that production of some battery metals could increase by up to 500 percent by 2050, to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles - essential for reducing carbon emissions.

Never before has mineral extraction sought to mitigate climate change on such a scale.

But there are currently no laws in place to ensure green technologies do not themselves cause harm - and cause harm they do.

The real frontier of the battery revolution is not in the corridors of Brussels.

It is in the unregulated cobalt mines of the DRC, where children as young as seven work in perilous conditions.

It is in the vast frozen expanses of Siberia's Taimyr Peninsula, where a nickel mining company spilled thousands of tonnes of diesel fuel into the Arctic; and in the salt flats of Latin America, where lithium extraction is threatening livelihoods.

Cobalt, nickel and lithium are key components of rechargeable batteries, and we are sliding towards a situation where we have replaced one type of environmental injustice with another.

The grim irony is that these abuses are being perpetrated against the people least responsible for the climate catastrophe. Indigenous fishing communities in Papua New Guinea's Basamuk Bay aren't the ones pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.

Electric cars, poisoned water

Yet it's their water that was poisoned when a nickel mine dumped 23 tonnes of toxic waste into the ocean, while sourcing the minerals necessary to get drivers in Paris, Beijing and New York into electric cars. The need for regulation has never been so urgent.

Last month, Amnesty International and 66 other human rights and environmental organisations published a set of principles for businesses and governments to adopt in order to clean up battery supply chains.

Many of the organisations who signed up to Powering Change represent the frontline communities most affected by the energy transition.

In Powering Change, we call on manufacturers to work towards maximum recycled content in batteries, minimise the use of hazardous materials, and manage battery waste responsibly.

We call on businesses and governments alike to ensure environmental defenders and Indigenous communities are consulted and properly informed about planned operations and potential risks.

The EU Battery Regulation proposal contains several articles to improve transparency in supply chains, which is also one of our coalition's crucial principles.

Microsoft, Renault, Volkswagen

In 2017, Amnesty researchers found that companies including Microsoft, Renault and Volkswagen were failing to ask basic questions about where the cobalt in their batteries came from.

More than half the world's cobalt comes from the DRC, where Amnesty has documented children and adults mining in perilous conditions, earning a couple of dollars a day to work in narrow tunnels at risk of collapse.

In light of this, it's unacceptable for businesses to shrug their shoulders about their supply chains – consumers deserve to know that their cars are not powered by human rights abuses.

This is why the European Battery Regulation could be one of the most important pieces of industry legislation ever.

It would be the first legally binding initiative to clean up battery supply chains, and would force businesses to do more to protect workers, Indigenous communities and the environment.

Europe is the epicentre of the push towards a battery-powered future.

Governments including the UK, Poland and Sweden are scrambling to construct multi-billion dollar battery "gigafactories", and the European Investment Bank pledged €1bn investment to the battery manufacturing industry in 2020.

Many of the corporations that led the Second Industrial Revolution - the invention of the internal combustion engine, the mass growth of the car industry, and concurrent demand for oil - are now taking the reins of what they pledge will be a 'Green Industrial Revolution.'

It is imperative that this time, corporations recognise their impact on the planet and human rights, and factor this into their business models.

If the Battery Regulation is adopted, Europe would also be the epicentre of an energy transition that is genuinely clean and fair.

Author bio

Richard Kent is a researcher on business and human rights at Amnesty International.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Batteries set to 'charge' our economy

By 2025, the European battery sector will be worth €250 billion annually - the decisions we take now will decide where the jobs to serve it are created, says EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

EU battery law could prove useless

EU member states and MEPs have agreed a new law on recycling batteries aimed at protecting consumers and the environment from hazardous chemicals, but there are fears it will hardly have any impact.

The Green 'gaslighting' of Africa

The West's fake moral high ground on climate change is devastating Africa - Europe must stop gaslighting the poor and create an inclusive Green New Deal.

EU's 'green mining' concept? - there's no such thing

The mining industry is working hard to ensure communities in Europe (and worldwide) have no real power to reject mining projects, using the industry-coined concept of 'social licence to operate' - with as little community input and dissent as possible.

How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?

The EU Commission's new magic formula for avoiding scrutiny is simple. You declare the documents in question to be "short-lived correspondence for a preliminary exchange of views" and thus exempt them from being logged in the official inventory.

Column

Will Poles vote for the end of democracy?

International media must make clear that these are not fair, democratic elections. The flawed race should be the story at least as much as the race itself.

Latest News

  1. European Political Community and key media vote This WEEK
  2. Is the ECB sabotaging Europe's Green Deal?
  3. The realists vs idealists Brussels battle on Ukraine's EU accession
  4. EU women promised new dawn under anti-violence pact
  5. Three steps EU can take to halt Azerbaijan's mafia-style bullying
  6. Punish Belarus too for aiding Putin's Ukraine war
  7. Added-value for Russia diamond ban, as G7 and EU prepare sanctions
  8. EU states to agree on asylum crisis bill, say EU officials

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  2. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  2. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  3. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  4. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us