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OUR MAN IN WESTMINSTER

Chris Loder MP, Member of Parliament for West Dorset

This month, I would like to share some thoughts on ‘green’ electric vehicles because there is a much bigger picture to consider, especially regarding human rights. It is an increasingly important discussion, especially since many of us will move to electric cars over the coming decade as part of meeting the net zero target by 2050. This is a great thing, but we need to fully understand the cons as well as the pros.

Electric vehicles have many benefits for us here in the UK, but, for many developing nations, their production is a human rights concern. This is littleknown and I think it’s worth shedding some light on the problems with the supply chain.

One issue is cobalt. Cobalt is a key metal used in the production of batteries for electric cars. It is a relatively rare element, generally speaking, but the bigger issue is that half of all the known cobalt reserves in the world are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where many people live in extreme poverty.

To put the DRC’s cobalt output into context, in 2019 the country produced 70% of world cobalt. The cobalt mining industry is very dependent on the DRC, which means we should be aware of just how the metal is extracted from the ground.

Most DRC mining operations are modern, similar to what we would find in the UK or Europe, but a

proportion are so-called ‘artisanal mines’ meaning they function with extremely basic equipment. They are also not very safe, with a 2016 Amnesty International investigation finding that no miners they saw wore face-masks and that the mines were without other typical safety provisions we in Britain would not accept when it comes to mining.

UNICEF estimates that around 40,000 children work in mines in the DRC, some as young as seven years old, which is not widely reported. The DRC has announced it intends to end child labour in mines by 2025 and has asked for international help to do that but there is still a way to go. People living in poverty, following years of civil war, sometimes have no other choice but to turn to the dangerous mines to make enough money.

In South America, the ‘lithium triangle’ has 60% of known lithium reserves. The triangle is found in Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia and the issue here is not so much dangerous mining practices but rather the issues faced by indigenous people through mining where they live.

It is cheaper to mine in the lithium triangle because of an extraction process through which lithium is evaporated from salt brines. This does, however, require huge amounts of water – which is already a scarce resource in these areas.

All of this paints an unpleasant picture, and many thousands of miles away in the UK it may seem like a far-away problem. But the reality is, as the Western world decarbonises, we will be huge consumers of electric vehicles – and therefore, we need to do our part to help improve the industry.

Electric vehicles are not without their challenges here in rural West Dorset either. The distances they can travel on a single charge vary according to the specific model, which can present some difficulties depending on where you want to go and what access you have to charging points. But, as technology improves, many of these issues will become lesser and electric vehicles will likely play a big role in combatting climate change.

As a politician, and in particular as a member of the Transport Select Committee, I consider it a duty to bring up these issues when they are discussed in the House of Commons or as part of a Select Committee inquiry.

Doing this raises the issue with Government, meaning there is chance for legislation to protect people caught in this supply chain. We need to make sure that not only mining companies, but also financial services companies, whose portfolios invest in the mining industry, do their due diligence to ensure the mines they operate and invest in are meeting human rights standards.

It seems important to me that, while many ‘woke’ discourses focus on many different topics closer to home, we do not forget about the things like this going on around the world. There are stories of real human suffering that we shouldn’t push out of our minds just because it might be happening far away.

A green economy is vital – but we mustn’t decarbonise at the expense of the poorest countries in the world.