{"id":12952,"date":"2023-12-17T13:59:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-17T13:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/17\/biden-admins-drive-for-green-energy-leads-to-accusations-of-forced-child-labor-mining-for-ev-battery-metals\/"},"modified":"2023-12-17T13:59:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T13:59:35","slug":"biden-admins-drive-for-green-energy-leads-to-accusations-of-forced-child-labor-mining-for-ev-battery-metals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/17\/biden-admins-drive-for-green-energy-leads-to-accusations-of-forced-child-labor-mining-for-ev-battery-metals\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden admin\u2019s drive for green energy leads to accusations of forced child labor mining for EV battery metals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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JOHANNESBURG \u2014 <\/strong>Children forced to work in appalling conditions, allegedly from as young as 4 years old, are putting the Biden administration\u2019s green energy plans at controversial risk, particularly when it comes to metals needed for batteries in electric vehicles (EVs)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The metal cobalt is the \u2018blood diamond\u2019 of battery materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many EV manufacturers crave it, as it makes electric vehicles go faster and further. But U.S. carmakers are stepping through a human rights minefield to get it and other battery ingredients.<\/p>\n

And while some U.S. companies agonize over whether they should be the unacceptable face of green energy by buying controversially mined cobalt, China, sources say, has no such scruples and has surged ahead to become the biggest EV manufacturer in the world.<\/p>\n

An estimated 70% of the world\u2019s cobalt is produced in the the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in West Africa, according to Michigan State University\u2019s Global Edge Research Organization.<\/p>\n

\u2018Biden\u2019s renewable energy crusade exploits and enslaves thousands in poor nations like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where children as young as 4 are forced to mine cobalt \u2018Jason Isaac told Fox News Digital. Isaac is the founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute.<\/p>\n

\u2018The human suffering caused by mining for electric vehicle batteries and wind turbine construction is unimaginable \u2014 as is the environmental destruction caused by these mines and their toxic byproducts.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The problem affects Europe too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Cobalt is a critical component in rechargeable car batteries, and the European Union\u2019s 2030 climate target will only increase demand for this metal,\u2019 Czech politician Tom\u00e1\u0161 Zdechovsk\u00fd told the European Parliament last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Despite the commission\u2019s zero\u2011tolerance approach to child labor in trade agreements, it is estimated, according to reports by UN agencies, that in the southern\u00a0Katanga province, more than 40,000 children are working in hazardous conditions in cobalt mines with inadequate safety equipment and for very little money.\u2019<\/p>\n

This work, often described as modern-day child slavery, pays children $5 a day \u2014 or less \u2014 with them often having to work long hours in unsupported tunnels up to 100 yards underground, exposed to cancer-causing chemicals.<\/p>\n

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is trying to stop what some claim is a form of child abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The sustainable development goals set a target for the elimination of child labor of 2025, and we are far from achieving it,\u2019 Ben Smith, senior technical officer, child labor, told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Labor in cobalt mining is a serious violation of children\u2019s rights that puts the health and safety, and even the lives of many children, at risk.\u00a0This vicious cycle of poverty and child labor must be broken for the sake of the children exposed to this harsh reality and for the social and economic progress of countries like the DRC.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that last year the U.S. and several other governments launched the Minerals Security Partnership \u2018to promote public and private investment in responsible critical minerals supply chains, to ensure that critical minerals are produced, processed and recycled according to the highest environmental, social and governance standards.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spokesperson noted, \u2018Communities in the DRC deserve to receive long-term benefits from their mineral resources during the global transition to clean energy, but this will require companies and government to follow through on sound policy.<\/p>\n

\u2018The State Department and broader U.S. government\u00a0continue\u00a0to engage the government\u00a0of the DRC\u00a0through bilateral diplomacy and foreign assistance to increase efforts to\u00a0combat human trafficking, including child forced labor.\u2019<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the China factor. On cobalt and EVs, the U.S. is but a small player.\u00a0Eighty percent of the DRC\u2019s industrial cobalt mines are owned or financed by Chinese companies, according to a 2022 report by Michigan State.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Isaac told Fox News Digital he condemned \u2018China\u2019s long and public history of human rights atrocities,\u2019 he recognized the potential for fallout for the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Maintaining human rights as a top priority may mean the United States loses a competitive edge in electric vehicle manufacturing, but it also means we\u2019ll be on the right side of history,\u2019 Isaac said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Already, the race for EV sales is lost.<\/p>\n

\u2018Without a doubt, the Chinese EV market is several factors higher than the U.S.,\u2019 Tyson Jominy, VP of customer success data & analytics division at J.D. Power told Fox News Digital. \u2018Year to date, the U.S. market has sold 960,000 EVs to retail consumers and slightly over 1.1 million to all channels, including fleet customers.\u2019<\/p>\n

And China? For pretty much the same period, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has been monitored by J.D. Power to show EV sales of well over 8 million units.<\/p>\n

The home of the muscle car \u2014 the U.S. \u2014 is also now behind on power for its EVs, especially when American manufacturers don\u2019t use cobalt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tesla didn\u2019t respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital, but the company issued a 2022 statement boasting of the performance when some of its vehicles are equipped with LFP or lithium iron phosphate batteries, which do not include cobalt.<\/p>\n

\u2018As a result of our energy-efficient motors, a (Tesla) Model 3 with an LFP battery pack can achieve a 267-mile range,\u2019 the statement said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Geely, which produces the cobalt-powered Chinese Zeekr 001 EV, claims it can go more than twice as far \u2014 641 miles on a single charge.<\/p>\n

\u2018The race for critical minerals can\u2019t come at the expense of human rights,\u2019 Gracelin Baskaran, research director, energy security, at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, (CSIS), told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Human rights and mining for the clean energy transition are not mutually exclusive endeavors.\u2019<\/p>\n

Isaac would like to see the U.S. doing more, especially when it comes to metals such as mined cobalt ending up in American cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It should take steps to ensure the metals mined for American technology and energy purposes are produced responsibly, without child labor and with strong worker and environmental protection standards,\u2019 Isaac said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Baskaran emphasized the need for stronger environmental and social safeguards but hammered home the need for green.<\/p>\n

\u2018The COP28 \u2018Global Stocktake\u2019 has shown that the world is far behind where it needs to be,\u2019 Baskaran said. \u2018The\u00a0only\u00a0<\/strong>way is to accelerate the clean energy transition, and there is no way we can do that without getting the critical minerals, including cobalt, to drive emissions reduction by deploying clean technology.\u2019<\/p>\n

At a mass rally early this year in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, Pope Francis dropped his mantle of diplomacy and spoke out in a veiled attack on the users of cobalt and other metals.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hands off Africa. Stop choking Africa. It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered,\u2019 the pontiff declared.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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