Conflict Minerals Position Statement

POSITION

The Community Environmental Council  is committed to the principles of climate and environmental justice. We strive to promote policies and actions that align with these values while advancing our mission of a rapid and equitable transition to a fossil-free future. 

One of our core efforts is to increase the adoption of clean  energy technology, including electric vehicles (EVs). We recognize that many EVs contain materials known as conflict minerals, and that there will be complex trade-offs along the pathway toward a just transition and fossil fuel-free future. With this in mind, CEC continues to actively promote EVs as an important step in the right direction, but also advocates for an expanded definition of conflict minerals, specifically naming cobalt and lithium as elements of concern.  CEC encourages consumers, governments, industry, and organizations to purchase and use products that are “conflict mineral-free” where possible. Given the rapid changes in battery technology, CEC also commits to revisiting this position statement annually.

Background

Conflict minerals are defined by the U.S. government as tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (3TG) and their derivatives. Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 mandates supply chain due diligence and public disclosure related to the sourcing of such minerals, to ensure that consumers know whether products they are purchasing are contributing to human rights abuses, and to eliminate demand for conflict minerals by increasing transparency. The Dodd-Frank Act specifically spotlights conflict minerals that are known to directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), or adjoining countries. 

While the Dodd-Frank definition is a good start, it arguably is not broad enough. Human rights abuses related to mineral extraction exist in other parts of the world, with particularly harmful impacts on Indigenous communities, communities of color, and Global South communities and nations. Substances extracted from ecosystems around the world – including fossil fuels, whose removal and combustion are the primary contributors to global anthropogenic climate change – are often extracted in a manner that results in human rights abuses, land theft, environmental harm and armed conflicts.

In addition, lithium and cobalt are common ingredients in lithium-ion batteries, a core component of most electric vehicles. Cobalt mining has been documented to have devastating consequences for ecosystems, negative impacts on human respiratory systems, and an array of human rights abuses (including enslavement and forced labor, the use of child labor, occupational health and safety risks, sexual assault and forced displacement). Similarly, there is considerable evidence that lithium mining and production is associated with an array of social and ecological harms. Fortunately, there are consumer products and certain EVs that do not directly rely on fossil fuels and are cobalt-free. As a result, CEC defines conflict minerals as 3TG, cobalt and lithium (3TG-CL).