Car manufacturers must be more transparent to ensure supply chains are not tainted by human rights abuses

Responding to the UK Government’s commitment to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040, Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty International, said:

“This is good news for the environment and for improving our air quality, but drivers should be aware that while electric cars may be green, they’re not always clean.

“Our research shows that there is a significant risk of cobalt mined by children and adults in appalling conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo ending up in the batteries of electric cars. Workers in the DRC, earning as little as 77p a day and at risk of fatal accidents and illness, must not pay the price for the UK’s shift to electric cars.

“Drivers will want to know that their new cars are not linked to the suffering of child labourers in the DRC, but there is a worrying lack of transparency across the car manufacturing industry, with many leading names failing to disclose information about their cobalt supply chains.

“With car makers in the spotlight today, we are calling on them to make public the steps they are taking to ensure that their supply chains are not tainted by human rights abuses, so that consumers’ minds can be put at rest.” 

For more information on electric cars and child labour read here.