Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where us extracts garbage for the batteries industry.
Hydrocarbons remain the primary method to obtain energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in western world are increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit co2 www.businesscloud.co.uk in the atmosphere and pollute mid-air with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will reach up to 130 million towards the end of 2030 and every home and office will more than likely use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already asserted that they’ll ban all vehicles working on petrol or diesel fuel in central areas. The way the situation is going, batteries will replace the environmentally damaging coal and oil as fuel sources.
Minerals for batteries must be extracted and processed with robust safety standards, proper working conditions, norms for responsible extraction and business ethics in mind.
Global social responsibility
Take, as an illustration, cobalt. Over sixty-six per cent of cobalt are extracted inside the Democratic Republic with the Congo. Cobalt mining brings lots of employment for folks throughout DRC but a large percentage could possibly be tainted by illegal child labour.
In 2017, world leading companies including BASF, Enel and Volkswagen met in the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos to talk about business ethics in minerals extraction for that production of batteries. As a result, the businesses came together to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group as being a founding member, directed at prohibiting the usage of child labour and promoting battery recycling to improve the sustainability of the industry.
The CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, Benedikt Sobotka reiterated the business’s dedication to help tackle child labour inside Democratic Republic from the Congo. He hopes that from the Alliance and collaboration between major companies, international organisations and civil society, the illegal involvement of youngsters in mining in the battery supply chain will likely be addressed.
Eurasian Resources Group supports children inside DRC
Through longstanding partnerships including using the Good Shepherd Sisters and Pact, Eurasian Resources Group targets helping tackle child labour and strengthen child protection norms.
In 2018 and early 2019, ERG continued to compliment greater than 10,000 students through its educational initiatives inside DRC.
Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, holds the global battery sector should confer benefits to its participants through the value chain including children and local communities inside DRC.