Benedikt Sobotka: We have a responsibility towards children in countries where our company extracts garbage for that batteries industry.

Hydrocarbons remain the key source of energy in 2019. Nevertheless, people in developed countries have become increasingly choosing electric cars, as petrol and diesel engines emit skin tightening and www.businesscloud.co.uk in the atmosphere and pollute the environment with nitrogen and sulphur compounds. The number of electric cars will are as long as 130 million in the end of 2030 and every home and office will more than likely use smart devices ran by batteries. Oslo, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Madrid already declared that they’ll ban all vehicles working 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 should 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 2 / 3 of cobalt are extracted in the Democratic Republic in the Congo. Cobalt mining brings a lot of employment for people all over DRC but a sizable percentage could be tainted by illegal child labour.

In 2017, world leading companies including BASF, Enel and Volkswagen met on the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos to go over 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, targeted at prohibiting the use of child labour and promoting battery recycling to improve the sustainability of the industry.

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

Eurasian Resources Group supports children within the DRC

Through longstanding partnerships including with the Good Shepherd Sisters and Pact, Eurasian Resources Group concentrates on helping tackle child labour and strengthen child protection norms.

In 2018 and early 2019, ERG continued to support over 10,000 students through its educational initiatives inside the DRC.

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