How environmentally friendly is your electric vehicle (EV)? There’s no denying that a zero-emissions battery-electric motor is kinder to the atmosphere than a petrol or diesel internal combustion engine. But does the benefit of the end product outweigh the environmental damage done in the supply chain?
It’s a question being asked by environmentalists the world over. Just as EV advocates say customers should look beyond the high purchase price of these vehicles and concentrate on the lower running costs, so doubters say consumers should look at the overall impact of EV production before being wooed by “green” messaging.
A 2022 World Bank report estimates that production of the metals and minerals used in EV batteries — lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese and graphite — could increase by nearly 500% by 2050 to meet clean-energy demand.
The motor industry will take a big chunk of that. As US business analytics company S&P Global Mobility explains, the lithium-ion batteries that power nearly all EVs are minerals dependent. Moreover, the battery on an average EV car weighs about 450kg, with minerals accounting for up to 185kg of that.
The extraction and processing of these minerals can be a major enterprise. Take lithium. Some analysts say there’s not enough of the metal to cater for all the EVs that are planned. Others say there’s plenty — if only we can reach it. By S&P’s estimate there are 88Mt on Earth, but only a quarter of that is economically viable to mine.
That share is likely to increase as demand pushes up prices. More than two-thirds of known lithium reserves are in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. Much of the mineral, there and elsewhere, is extracted from beneath salt flats.
But it comes at a cost. The World Bank says: “Lithium mining is, like all mining, environmentally and socially harmful. More than half the current lithium production, which is very water-intensive, takes place in regions blighted by water shortages that are likely to get worse due to global heating.”
Mining of lithium, and indeed all minerals, needs to be sensitive, responsible and sustainable. South Africa, which the department of mineral resources & energy says has significant lithium reserves, could have something of a head start on this count. Winstone Jordaan, CEO of automotive energy company GridCars, tells the FM that if the country taps them, its mining experience should help it avoid some of the environmental devastation experienced elsewhere.
According to the World Bank, many lithium reserves are in poor countries desperate for income. In theory, their share of the $1.7-trillion in planned global mining investment “could contribute to economic growth, jobs and local development”.
But experience suggests otherwise. Environmental sustainability is not a priority for many of these countries, their partners or their customers. In fact, many of the companies that espouse the green cause back home are happy to overlook it in the countries that supply them.
Some, of course, are genuinely concerned about the sustainability of their operations and the welfare of their workers and communities. But elsewhere wages are low, health care is minimal and pollution rife. And little attention is given to rehabilitating mined land after mineral reserves are exhausted.
Companies ‘are unlikely to abandon Congo, for a simple reason: the world needs what Congo has’
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has the world’s largest cobalt reserves, is often used as an example of all that is wrong with mining for battery minerals. Since last year, reports by Amnesty International and a Dutch group, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, have accused mine owners in the DRC of water pollution and the forced relocation of communities. Most of the mines are owned by Chinese companies. One, Congo DongFang, has been accused of buying cobalt mined by children.
Numerous reports say child labour is rife in the DRC’s cobalt industry. So is slavery. A recent study by The Washington Post found that “artisanal” miners, who are not employed by the mines but supply up to 40% of the DRC’s cobalt using hand tools to dig hundreds of metres underground, are paid just $2-$3 (about R40-R60) a day.
People living near mines aren’t much better off. An article published by the Yale School of the Environment in the US states: “[Communities] are being exposed to toxic cobalt dust and particulates and ore every day. Birth defects are on the rise, cancers, thyroid disease, neurological ailments, respiratory ailments, skin rashes and dermatitis.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, Chen Hongliang, president of Congo DongFang’s Chinese parent company, Huayou Cobalt, said he was unaware of the conditions under which Congolese cobalt miners work. His company had never asked, he said, and “we didn’t realise”.
Multinationals using Congolese cobalt say the same but insist they will vet their supply chains more carefully in the future. According to the Post, however, companies “are unlikely to abandon Congo, for a simple reason: the world needs what Congo has”.
Renai Moothilal, director of South Africa’s National Association of Automotive Component & Allied Manufacturers, says Africa should use that need to protect its interests. Many countries, including South Africa and its neighbours, have plentiful supplies of key raw materials for batteries. Zambia is a significant producer of cobalt and copper, for example, while Zimbabwe hopes to develop an annual $12bn lithium industry by supplying 20% of world demand. Late last year, the Harare government announced a ban on the export of raw lithium in order to add “billions of dollars” to the local value chain.
In Moothilal’s view, African countries should co-ordinate a beneficiation strategy to do the same with all minerals. The African Continental Free Trade Area, established in 2018, is a potential avenue for Africa to enjoy more of the benefits, he says. Plans to create a pan-African motor industry, which will eventually be a significant user of EV batteries, add to the need. (At present, China is using many of Africa’s mineral resources to feed its own motor industry’s EV needs.)
“It is important that strategic African countries agree a significant auto pact that allows this minerals chain to be locked in,” he says.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.