Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where we extracts unprocessed trash for your batteries industry.

Hydrocarbons remain the principle source of energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in civilized world are now increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit skin tightening and www.businessfirstonline.co.uk to the atmosphere and pollute air with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will reach up to 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 are going to ban all vehicles focusing on petrol or diesel fuel in central areas. The way everything 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 in your mind.

Global social responsibility

Take, for instance, cobalt. Over 2 / 3 of cobalt are extracted inside Democratic Republic from the Congo. Cobalt mining brings lots of employment for people all over DRC but a large percentage might 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 output of batteries. As a result, the companies 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 increase the sustainability with the industry.

The CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, Benedikt Sobotka reiterated the business’s dedication to help tackle child labour inside Democratic Republic in the Congo. He hopes that over the Alliance and collaboration between major companies, international organisations and civil society, the illegal involvement of children in mining in the battery supply chain will probably be addressed.

Eurasian Resources Group supports children inside the DRC

Through longstanding partnerships including using the Good Shepherd Sisters and Pact, Eurasian Resources Group focuses on helping tackle child labour and strengthen child protection norms.

In 2018 and early 2019, ERG continued to aid greater than 10,000 students through its educational initiatives within the DRC.

Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, holds the global battery sector should confer benefits to its participants over the value chain including children and local communities within the DRC.