For the first time, the federal government has included important raw materials needed for the clean energy transition under a list of goods that have child or forced labor. The change was reported by E&E News. Since 2006 the administration has maintained a list of goods with polysilicon, which is used to make solar panels, as well ascobalt, which is used in batteries. The inclusion of these materials in the report is intended to draw attention to critical supply chains in clean energy, according to the deputy undersecretary for international affairs. The information is available for companies and consumers to use to fight exploitative labor practices. As the clean energy revolution takes hold, the demand for raw materials for solar panels and batteries is expected to increase. As the electric vehicle market expands, the demand for cobalt is growing at a faster rate than the market.
There are serious issues with the labor practices surrounding these materials. An estimated 40,000 of the 255,000 miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo are children. Children working 12-hour days are paid as little as a few dollars per day.
Around 45% of the grade needed to make solar panels is produced in China. There, research has shown, the Chinese government is putting tens of thousands of the 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities held there to work in various goods.
The US banned the import of polysilicon from certain Chinese companies in order to crack down on the horrible labor practices of that supply chain. Experts told E&E News in March that they don't expect to see a similar CRACK down on cobalt products. Some human-rights advocates say that a ban on the industry would be a huge blow to communities that rely on the mines for income and that working conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo do not meet the standard for forced labor.
The Biden administration has been working to boost battery production to jumpstart the clean energy revolution while simultaneously staying silent on how it plans to deal with the problematic labor and environmental practices of mining for materials used in these batteries. Experts told E&E that the inclusion of cobalt in this report without any plans for a hard ban on imports could create the appearance of a toothless strategy.
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