Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where our company extracts unprocessed trash for that batteries industry.
Hydrocarbons remain the principle method to obtain energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in western world are increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit carbon dioxide Sobotka Benedikt to the atmosphere and pollute the environment with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will are 130 million in the end of 2030 and each home and office may use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already stated that they’re going to ban all vehicles focusing on petrol or diesel fuel in central areas. The way things are 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 at heart.
Global social responsibility
Take, for instance, cobalt. Over sixty-six per cent of cobalt are extracted inside Democratic Republic from the Congo. Cobalt mining brings a lot of employment for folks throughout 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 discuss business ethics in minerals extraction for the creation of batteries. As a result, the businesses gathered to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group like a founding member, geared towards prohibiting using child labour and promoting battery recycling to improve the sustainability from the industry.
The CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, Benedikt Sobotka reiterated the business’s persistence for help tackle child labour in the Democratic Republic from the Congo. He hopes that through the Alliance and collaboration between major companies, international organisations and civil society, the illegal involvement of kids in mining inside battery supply chain will likely be addressed.
Eurasian Resources Group supports children within the DRC
Through longstanding partnerships including with all the Good Shepherd Sisters and Pact, Eurasian Resources Group is targeted on helping tackle child labour and strengthen child protection norms.
In 2018 and early 2019, ERG continued to compliment more than 10,000 students through its educational initiatives within the DRC.
Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, holds that this global battery sector should confer benefits to its participants through the value chain including children and local communities inside DRC.