Batteries are the key component in the electric car revolution that Tesla kickstarted, and each one contains cobalt. Yet concerns about human rights abuses and child labour have prompted a dual effort to cut the amount of cobalt used in batteries and to clean up complex global supply chains. The battery industry accounts for the majority of global cobalt demand, and that demand is set to soar with more than $60bn (£46bn) of investments in new battery factories during 2019, according to the data firm Benchmark Minerals. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Raw cobalt in a factory in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, before being exported to be refined. Either way, battery makers have a responsibility to the people of DRC, many thousands of whom rely on cobalt mining for a living, said Amnesty’s Dummett.

Source: The Guardian January 05, 2020 12:54 UTC