Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where our company extracts raw materials for your batteries industry.
Hydrocarbons remain the primary way to obtain energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in civilized world are increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit co2 Sobotka Benedikt in the atmosphere and pollute the environment with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will reach up to 130 million in the end of 2030 each home and office will likely use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already stated that they’re going to ban all vehicles taking care of petrol or diesel fuel in central areas. The way situations 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 planned.
Global social responsibility
Take, for example, cobalt. Over 2 / 3 of cobalt are extracted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cobalt mining brings a significant amount of employment for people all over DRC but a substantial 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 debate business ethics in minerals extraction for the creation of batteries. As a result, the companies came together to found the Global Battery Alliance, with Eurasian Resources Group being a founding member, targeted at prohibiting the use of child labour and promoting battery recycling to increase the sustainability of the industry.
The CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, Benedikt Sobotka reiterated the business’s persistence for help tackle child labour inside the Democratic Republic with the Congo. He hopes that over the Alliance and collaboration between major companies, international organisations and civil society, the illegal involvement of youngsters in mining in the battery supply chain will probably 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 targets helping tackle child labour and strengthen child protection norms.
In 2018 and early 2019, ERG continued to compliment over 10,000 students through its educational initiatives inside the DRC.
Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, holds the global battery sector should confer benefits to its participants across the value chain including children and local communities in the DRC.