Cobalt is an essential component in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, and the legal action being taken in the US is part of a much wider campaign that is looking to cut the amount of cobalt used in batteries. The case is being brought by the parents of children said to have died in its mining and it is hoped that the case will help to address the health and environmental issues being seen at the sharp end of the global supply chain.
Child abuse and the use of forced labour in mining and supplying cobalt is well documented. What is of concern is that the demand for cobalt is expected to soar from 70,000 tonnes in 2019 to over 300,000 tonnes this year reflecting the growth in electric vehicles and as more manufacturing facilities come online.
Tesla, cited in the legal action, has responded by pledging to remove the use of cobalt in its next generation of vehicles but have yet to provide any details as to how this will be achieved.
Apple, Google, Dell and Microsoft have also been named in the US lawsuit.
So what to do? The DRC, which accounts for 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt, is talking about regulating the 1,000s of artisanal miners that are supplying this vital mineral and there have been a number of supply chain auditing projects set up.
Could technology provide a solution to this problem?
In South Korea, SK Innovation are looking to produce cathodes incorporating just 10% cobalt, compared to the current 30%, while companies like Johnson Matthey and BASF are working on lower-cobalt chemistries.
In fact a host of British companies are looking to develop lithium sulphur batteries which are said to have five times the energy density of current technology.
Reducing the use of cobalt is certainly going to be a challenge but it is one that needs to be addressed.
In the DRC, Zambia and Cuba lung disease and heart failure have been linked to high levels of exposure to cobalt and there is a possible link to cancer too.
The mines are also causing environmental damage in the form of water pollution, contaminated crops and a loss of soil fertility.
We are seeing a massive increase in battery production but the dangers of exposure to cobalt require better safeguards, especially where people and their habitats are most at risk.
Could the rush to embrace battery technology to solve one problem – the climate crisis – create another, destroying the lives of those at the bottom of the supply chain?
