Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where us extracts unprocessed trash to the batteries industry.
Hydrocarbons remain the key source of energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in civilized world are now increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit carbon dioxide www.businesscloud.co.uk in to the atmosphere and pollute the environment with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will are 130 million in 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 declared that they’re going to ban all vehicles working on petrol or diesel fuel in central areas. The way things are going, batteries will replace the environmentally damaging coal and oil as fuel sources.
Minerals for batteries have to be extracted and processed with robust safety standards, proper working conditions, norms for responsible extraction and business ethics in your mind.
Global social responsibility
Take, as an example, cobalt. Over sixty-six per cent of cobalt are extracted in the Democratic Republic in the Congo. Cobalt mining brings a lot of employment for folks around DRC but a sizable percentage might 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 the production of batteries. As a result, the companies joined together to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group being a founding member, targeted at prohibiting the use of child labour and promoting battery recycling to increase the sustainability with the industry.
The CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, Benedikt Sobotka reiterated the business’s persistence for help tackle child labour in the Democratic Republic with the Congo. He hopes that with the Alliance and collaboration between major companies, international organisations and civil society, the illegal involvement of kids in mining within the battery supply chain will be addressed.
Eurasian Resources Group supports children inside the 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 aid greater than 10,000 students through its educational initiatives in the DRC.
Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, holds that the global battery sector should confer benefits to its participants through the value chain including children and local communities inside DRC.