{"id":234,"date":"2022-01-19T16:39:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T16:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/?p=234"},"modified":"2022-01-19T17:03:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T17:03:03","slug":"cobalt-mining-the-hidden-dark-side-of-renewables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/2022\/01\/19\/cobalt-mining-the-hidden-dark-side-of-renewables\/","title":{"rendered":"Cobalt Mining – The Hidden Dark Side of Renewables"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Luke Stevenson –\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A global shift towards sustainable activities has contributed to more people owning electric cars. A single lithium car battery for electric cars use 14kg of cobalt, and since the price of lithium batteries has dropped by 97% since 1991, the demand for cobalt has risen exponentially, with many believing electric cars and lithium batteries will become the primary technology very soon [1]. Most people, including you, probably view the rise of electric cars positively, however, we will focus on the numerous impacts of cobalt, related as a wider picture to renewables, on the producers of the supply chain that most overlook.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 1 – Tunnel for cobalt ore by Fairphone, CC-BY via Flickr https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/fairphone\/8051714684<\/p><\/div>\n

Sovacool (2019) researched the impacts of intense cobalt production on miners in Congo – addressing the problems from renewables, interviewing 48 individuals from different sectors of the mining industry (diggers, sorters, owners). Some respondents commented on some of the benefits<\/strong> of working in the mines<\/strong> \u2013 including \u201cemployment for tens of thousands of people\u201d, and how the income has allowed communities to build schools and water stations [2]. Figure 1 shows an example of a cobalt mine tunnel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sovacool found much more risks and problems <\/strong>from respondents, who stated that there is minimal to no food and water, frequent accidents – like landslide hazards that have a death rate of 0.4%-0.5% in the Katanga region [3], as well as environmental problems like air pollution affecting the health of miners\/locals. \u201cIt is only corrupt politicians who are getting rich\u201d, one respondent said, highlighting the regional instability in the area [2] \u2013 this can lead to income inequalities, like miners receiving as little as \u00a32.60 a day [4], alongside violence between industrial and artisanal (traditional) miners due to security problems and absences of resources in artisanal mines [2]. Children as young as seven have also been found in the mines [5], a problem caused by poor income when children often work in unsafe conditions for their families.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what are companies doing about unethical treatment<\/strong>? Unfortunately, not much. For instance, Tesla struck a deal with Glencore in 2020 to ensure cobalt demand is met for new plants in China and Germany [6]. Glencore is known to put miners on subcontractors (low contract\/no contract hire who often mistreat workers with low income) so they can avoid responsibility for any problems in the mines [4]. Again, it\u2019s often the case of the rich here taking advantage of the poor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though, some companies have started implementing policies<\/strong> aimed to reduce poor treatment of workers; groups like Amnesty International and the United Nations have raised attention to traceability and ensuring their mines are not sources of illegal\/child labour [7,8], but there isn\u2019t certainty that mines companies will change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then what might we expect to happen?<\/strong> Sovacool\u2019s research determined that these problems are usually caused by regional instability\/corruption leading to poor income, combined with poor assessment or even a lack of care from first-world companies [2]. To conclude, since it may be difficult to challenge unethical treatment if companies take advantage of income, especially with the exponential demand as renewables increase, unethical cobalt mining won\u2019t diminish anytime soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

References and further reading<\/u><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Castelvecchi, D. (2021)\u00a0Electric cars and batteries: how will the world produce enough? com.<\/em> [online] https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-021-02222-1<\/a> [Accessed 27 November 2021].<\/li>\n
  2. Sovacool, B.K. (2019) The precarious political economy of cobalt: Balancing prosperity, poverty, and brutality in artisanal and industrial mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.\u00a0The Extractive Industries and Society<\/em>,\u00a06<\/em>(3), pp.915-939<\/li>\n
  3. Tsurukawa, N., Prakash, S. and Manhart, A. (2011) Social impacts of artisanal cobalt mining in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo.\u00a0\u00d6ko-Institut eV, Freiburg<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  4. Pattisson, P. (2021) \u2018Like slave and master\u2019: DRC miners toil for 30p an hour to fuel electric cars, The Guardian<\/em>. [online] Amp.theguardian.com. https:\/\/amp.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2021\/nov\/08\/cobalt-drc-miners-toil-for-30p-an-hour-to-fuel-electric-cars<\/a> [Accessed 1 December 2021].<\/li>\n
  5. Amnesty International (2016).\u00a0\u201c<\/em>This is what we die for\u201d. Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt. [online] London: Amnesty International<\/em> (p.28). Available at: https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/AFR6231832016ENGLISH.pdf<\/a> [Accessed 2 December 2021].<\/li>\n
  6. Bloomberg News (2020).\u00a0Tesla strikes deal to buy cobalt from Glencore for EV plants. COM<\/em>. [online] Available at: https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/tesla-strikes-deal-to-buy-cobalt-from-glencore-for-ev-plants\/<\/a> [Accessed 1 December 2021].<\/li>\n
  7. Katz-Lavigne, S. (2019). Demand for Congo’s cobalt is on the rise: So is the scrutiny of mining practices.\u00a0The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  8. Hilson, G., Hilson, A. and McQuilken, J. (2016). Ethical minerals: Fairer trade for whom?.\u00a0Resources policy<\/em>,\u00a049<\/em>(pp.232-247).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Luke Stevenson –\u00a0 A global shift towards sustainable activities has contributed to more people owning electric cars. A single lithium car battery for electric cars use 14kg of cobalt, and since the price of lithium batteries has dropped by 97% since 1991, the demand for cobalt has risen exponentially, with many believing electric cars…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1374,"featured_media":221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,51,15],"tags":[4,56,17],"class_list":["post-234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-wellbeing","category-renewable-energy","category-sustainability","tag-health-and-wellbeing","tag-renewable-energy","tag-sustainability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/files\/2022\/01\/CobaltMine.jpg?fit=918%2C610&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1374"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec101blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}