Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where us extracts recycleables to the batteries industry.

Hydrocarbons remain the key supply of energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in western world are increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit co2 Sobotka Benedikt into 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 more than likely use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already asserted that they are going to ban all vehicles focusing on 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 should 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 example, cobalt. Over 60 % of cobalt are extracted inside the Democratic Republic with the Congo. Cobalt mining brings a significant amount of employment for those around DRC but a large percentage could be tainted by illegal child labour.

In 2017, world leading companies including BASF, Enel and Volkswagen met at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos to talk about business ethics in minerals extraction for your creation of batteries. As a result, the businesses joined together to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group like a founding member, geared towards prohibiting the application of child labour and promoting battery recycling to boost the sustainability from the industry.

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

Eurasian Resources Group supports children within 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 in the DRC.

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