Microsoft visited an artisanal cobalt mine in Democratic Republic of Congo in December as part of attempts to jump-start formalization of the little-regulated and dangerous industry that experts say is key to meeting global demand for the battery material
"Electric vehicle manufacturers and electronics companies are operating with one eye open and one eye closed," said Dorothee Baumann Pauly, director of the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, who wrote the report.
Microsoft declined to reply to Reuters' questions about the visit or about its strategy on artisanal cobalt. In the report, Microsoft said that it is "committed to responsible and ethical sourcing". As consumers become more concerned that the products they buy are tainted by poor working conditions or child labour, global tech firms and carmakers have been using less mined cobalt in their batteries by increasing recycling and switching to lower-cobalt chemistries.Apple, for example, aims to massively reduce its use of all materials sourced directly from mines, and has said that 13% of the cobalt shipped in its products in 2021 came from recycling.
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