Amnesty International recognized Tesla and Mercedes-Benz for their “human rights diligence” in manufacturing their electric vehicles.
There have been concerns about the rise in electric vehicle adoption leading to human rights issues, especially due to the increased need for some metals related to battery production, which are sometimes mined in difficult conditions.
The bulk of the concerns revolve around cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Amnesty International has been one of the main organizations bringing attention to this issue. In 2016, we reported on their original report highlighting this issue.
The organization has now released a new updated report about the situation:
They note that there have been improvements since their last report:
There has been some undoubted progress across the sector since 2017, when Amnesty International last assessed the human rights due diligence policies and practices of several EV makers on their metal supply chains. Seven years later, many EV makers have taken positive steps to acknowledge their human rights responsibilities and align corporate policies and practices with international human rights standards. Some conducted risk assessments of specific battery supply chain minerals, met with affected communities, and participated in initiatives with civil society organizations to develop shared frameworks and expectations of conduct for the industry.
But they clearly state that there is still a lot of work to do and that the OEMs are the ones that need to take responsibility for tracking their critical minerals.
Amnesty International recognized Mercedes-Benz and Tesla as doing the best of all the automakers evaluated, but they still fall shot of the “adequate demonstration” of human rights diligence:
But they are way better than laggards like BYD and Mitsubishi, according to the report.
Clearly, there’s still a lot of work to do. We reported recently that a new “battery passport” to track battery materials and components from mine to car.
Here are some of the issues that Amnesty International says that automakers need to watch out for:
- DRC: The DRC accounts for roughly 70% of global cobalt production and holds the seventh largest reserves of copper globally. In 2016, Amnesty International found children and adults toiling in hazardous hand-dug cobalt mines. By 2023, large-scale mining in and around Kolwezi in the southern province of Lualaba had forced people from their homes and farmland through evictions, causing widespread suffering. Toxic pollution from mines has also harmed peoples’ mental and physical health. Amnesty International considers cobalt mining regions of Kolwezi to be “sacrifice zones”.
- Lithium Triangle (Argentina, Chile and Bolivia): Indigenous Peoples interviewed by Amnesty International say that lithium extraction violates their right to determine what type of economic development takes place on their lands, threatens their way of life and drains water resources.
- Indonesia: Vast nickel mining projects have razed forests, uprooted local people, and polluted rivers and seas. Halmahera Island is a prime example, where mining has devastated the lives of many Indigenous people.
- Philippines: Nickel mining has led to widespread environmental impacts via dust generation, air pollution, water contamination, soil erosion and damage to aquatic life. It has also been linked to cancers, skin and respiratory problems, demonstrating threats to the right to a healthy environment.
- Global: Agricultural and racialized communities and Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately harmed by pollution, environmental degradation and climate change, and are often on the fence-line of extractives projects and associated industries. They are subjected to environmental racism, a form of racism that puts their health and well-being at risk through exposure to water, air and soil pollution associated with these industries, as well as decreased food security and lack of access to information or quality healthcare.
- Global: Amnesty International’s 2024 State of the World’s Human Rights report notes that
Indigenous Peoples, climate justice activists and environmental human rights defenders face
significant human rights risks when engaging in peaceful acts of civil disobedience, experiencing criminalization, excessive or unnecessary use of force, and injuries or deaths from weapons used to disperse crowds. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre reports that 148 attacks on human rights defenders between 2010 and 2021 were related to transition mineral mining and 41% of documented attacks were committed against Indigenous Peoples. It further reports 631 allegations of human rights abuse related to energy transition mineral extraction in this period. The risks to human rights and human rights defenders are both widespread and well documented. Further, these kinds of allegations are on the rise, which should be a red flag to EV automakers.