Extract from Wales Assembly debate on the non-carbon emission public vehicles Bill - May 15

Michelle Brown AM: ...Electric vehicles rely on batteries. Batteries require cobalt, and the vast majority of that is sourced from the Congo—an area rife with conflict. Furthermore, children are exploited to work in the cobalt mines for slave wages, and much of the profits the companies make is used to fund civil war. The term 'blood batteries' has now entered the lexicon of those talking about development of electric vehicles, and we must ensure that we're no part of it. We have to make sure that in our scramble to find a different form of fuel for our cars we don't end up fuelling conflict, poverty and child labour—however many miles away it is from Wales. Tesla have reportedly said that they're looking to source cobalt from Cuba, but in the global scramble for this finite resource, once the ethical sources have been depleted, it will be sourced from less ethical sources. There will be no other choice. Therefore, where point 2(b) mentions a strategy to move towards using electrical vehicles, please can we ensure that a constant element of that strategy is to only use vehicles that are free of conflict materials or blood batteries?

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