Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where us extracts garbage for the batteries industry.
Hydrocarbons remain the key way to obtain energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in civilized world have become increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit skin tightening and businesscasestudies.co.uk in to the atmosphere and pollute the air with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will reach up to 130 million by the end of 2030 each home and office will probably use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already stated that they’re going to ban all vehicles implementing 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 at heart.
Global social responsibility
Take, for example, cobalt. Over 60 % of cobalt are extracted inside the Democratic Republic in the Congo. Cobalt mining brings a lot of employment for those all around DRC but a substantial percentage might be tainted by illegal child labour.
In 2017, world leading companies including BASF, Enel and Volkswagen met at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos to go over business ethics in minerals extraction for that creation of batteries. As a result, the companies joined together to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group like a founding member, targeted at prohibiting the usage 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 resolve for help tackle child labour within the Democratic Republic in the Congo. He hopes that with the Alliance and collaboration between major companies, international organisations and civil society, the illegal involvement of children in mining in the battery supply chain will likely be addressed.
Eurasian Resources Group supports children in the DRC
Through longstanding partnerships including with all the Good Shepherd Sisters and Pact, Eurasian Resources Group concentrates on helping tackle child labour and strengthen child protection norms.
In 2018 and early 2019, ERG continued to support a lot more than 10,000 students through its educational initiatives inside 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 in the DRC.