Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where us extracts garbage for that batteries industry.
Hydrocarbons remain the primary way to obtain energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in civilized world are increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit co2 businesscasestudies.co.uk in to the atmosphere and pollute air with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will are as long as 130 million right at the end of 2030 and each home and office will probably use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already stated that they’ll ban all vehicles taking care of 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 have to be extracted and processed with robust safety standards, proper working conditions, norms for responsible extraction and business ethics at heart.
Global social responsibility
Take, as an example, cobalt. Over 60 % of cobalt are extracted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cobalt mining brings lots of employment for those all over DRC but a sizable percentage could be tainted by illegal child labour.
In 2017, world leading companies including BASF, Enel and Volkswagen met with 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 businesses joined together to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group being a founding member, aimed at prohibiting the usage of child labour and promoting battery recycling to improve the sustainability from the industry.
The CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, Benedikt Sobotka reiterated the business’s commitment to help tackle child labour within the Democratic Republic in the Congo. He hopes that through 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 probably be addressed.
Eurasian Resources Group supports children inside the DRC
Through longstanding partnerships including while using 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 over 10,000 students through its educational initiatives inside DRC.
Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, holds how the global battery sector should confer benefits to its participants through the value chain including children and local communities in the DRC.