Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where our organization extracts recycleables for the batteries industry.
Hydrocarbons remain the principle way to obtain energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in developed countries have become increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit fractional co2 www.businessfirstonline.co.uk in to the atmosphere and pollute the air with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will reach up to 130 million right at the end of 2030 every home and office will likely use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already asserted that they’ll ban all vehicles implementing petrol or diesel fuel in central areas. The way the situation 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 mind.
Global social responsibility
Take, for instance, cobalt. Over 60 % of cobalt are extracted in the Democratic Republic with the Congo. Cobalt mining brings lots of employment for folks all over DRC but a large percentage may 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 debate business ethics in minerals extraction for your output of batteries. As a result, the businesses came together to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group like a founding member, geared towards 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 persistence for help tackle child labour within the Democratic Republic from the Congo. He hopes that from the Alliance and collaboration between major companies, international organisations and civil society, the illegal involvement of kids in mining inside the battery supply chain will be addressed.
Eurasian Resources Group supports children inside the DRC
Through longstanding partnerships including with all the Good Shepherd Sisters and Pact, Eurasian Resources Group concentrates on helping tackle child labour and strengthen child protection norms.
In 2018 and early 2019, ERG continued to aid more than 10,000 students through its educational initiatives inside the DRC.
Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, holds that this global battery sector should confer benefits to its participants over the value chain including children and local communities within the DRC.