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The latest statistics I've seen, show that child slavery accounts for about 12% of the overall cobalt production. Because 60% of the Cobalt comes from DNC and w

The latest statistics I've seen, show that child slavery accounts for about 12% of the overall cobalt production. Because 60% of the Cobalt comes from DNC and within DNC its about 20%[1]. So, while this is an issue that needs to be addressed, it is not much of an issue in terms of electric cars. They need in an order of magnitude, that they have the control over where the Cobalt actually comes from. Nevertheless the automotive industry works hard on Cobalt-free batteries. If child labour is a thing for you, then you should think about the cheap stuff from China, that contains any sort of battery. [1] https://www.humanium.org/en/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-child-labour-in-cobalt-mines-in-the-drc/ https://www.humanium.org/en/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-child-...

imtringued 5y ago
I see no mention of child slavery, only child labor. Child labor is voluntary in the sense that these children have no parental support and no better options. The way to help them would involve providing better options or institutional support rather than an attempt to regulate what amounts to a black market activity.
- CyanBird 5y ago
  This is the correct take, but, to do that is more difficult and "overall less markateable" to the public These areas where child labor is still a thing, they are generally backwaters where there is no sanitation let alone large schools with "high" quality housing and food for orphanages A non-trivial amount of these kids have nowhere else to go, or they must work to assist with family income and this is the highest income they can get So yes, this is very much a black market issue, "at best" the areas where the cobalt is could be liased to large international companies like RioTinto, but then that would mean that the children would just move to working in other sources of income But again, these topics are not easily marketable for the general western public

imtringued 5y ago

I see no mention of child slavery, only child labor. Child labor is voluntary in the sense that these children have no parental support and no better options. The way to help them would involve providing better options or institutional support rather than an attempt to regulate what amounts to a black market activity.

CyanBird 5y ago
This is the correct take, but, to do that is more difficult and "overall less markateable" to the public These areas where child labor is still a thing, they are generally backwaters where there is no sanitation let alone large schools with "high" quality housing and food for orphanages A non-trivial amount of these kids have nowhere else to go, or they must work to assist with family income and this is the highest income they can get So yes, this is very much a black market issue, "at best" the areas where the cobalt is could be liased to large international companies like RioTinto, but then that would mean that the children would just move to working in other sources of income But again, these topics are not easily marketable for the general western public