Elon Musk’s Laughable Solution To Tesla’s Child Labor Worries
Elon Musk’s Laughable Solution To Tesla’s Child Labor Worries
Elon Musk’s Ineffective Response to Tesla’s Child Labor Concerns
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has promised to address the company’s issues with child labor in its supply chain. However, his proposed high-tech solution falls short.
Last year,
following the rejection of a proposal by Tesla’s board and investors to hire an external monitor to ensure cobalt suppliers weren’t using child or forced labor at mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Musk vowed to do just that—and more.
“I heard a question raised about cobalt mining and you know what? We will do a third-party audit,” Musk told a cheering crowd of shareholders at Tesla’s annual meeting in May 2023. “In fact, we’ll put a webcam on the mine. If anybody sees any children, please let us know,” he said, giggling.
However,
Forbes has discovered that a year later, Musk’s promised webcam is not in place. Instead, the Kamoto Copper Co., Tesla’s main cobalt source, posts a single photo of the mine complex each month, taken by an Airbus satellite. The resolution is too low to reveal anything smaller than large facilities, making it impossible to detect children.
Tesla claims multiple third-party reviews of working conditions at Kamoto,
which is owned by Glencore, according to its latest environmental impact report. “Our direct suppliers undergo third-party audits to ensure no child labor happens at these mines and no material from unauthorized sources enters our supply chain,” Tesla stated. “Four audits were conducted in 2023 and found no instances of child labor at our direct suppliers’ sites.”
Despite these claims,
the monthly satellite images and third-party reviews do not address broader issues in cobalt and copper mining, says Courtney Wicks, executive director of Investor Advocates for Social Justice. She represents a group of Tesla shareholders advocating for more rigorous cobalt sourcing guidelines.
“Taking one picture a month is not a comprehensive plan,
” Wicks told Forbes. “The steps Tesla has taken are not worth mentioning. The effectiveness is insufficient at this stage.”
The central issue,
according to Michael Posner, professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business and director of NYU’s Center for Business and Human Rights, is the situation in neighboring unregulated mines. A study coauthored by Posner and the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights estimates that about 40,000 people under 18 work at artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) operations in Congo. Children are often there because their families need extra income or lack access to childcare.
“Monitoring what goes on in a mechanized mine site ignores the central problem,
which is that a significant percentage of cobalt comes from artisanal mines,” Posner said. Cobalt from these smaller mines is mixed with metal from industrial mines like Kamoto, but Tesla does not monitor these sources, exacerbating the problem.
Furthermore,
cobalt from Congo is shipped to China for refining, making it even harder to trace its origins. “By the time it’s put inside a battery in the United States or Europe, it’s all been commingled somewhere in China,” Posner said.
Neither Musk nor Tesla responded to requests for comment.
Glencore’s spokesperson,
Charles Watenphul, acknowledged that customers increasingly seek assurance that their supply chains are free from human rights abuses. “Our copper and cobalt operations in the DRC participate in third-party responsible sourcing audits under the Responsible Minerals Assurance Procedure annually,” he said. Both Kamoto and Mutanda Mining in the DRC have committed to responsible mining practices under the Copper Mark initiative.
Despite Musk’s promises,
Tesla’s measures have not effectively addressed the child labor issue. Inspections at Kamoto appear to be scheduled, not surprise visits, and do not occur at night when problems are more likely to be found. “The lack of standards and transparency around how these audits are executed is our main concern,” Wicks said. “It sounds good in a sustainability report, but for investors who care about this issue and see it as a significant risk, the effectiveness of these audits is questionable.”
Tesla claims it is working to reduce its cobalt usage by shifting to new battery chemistries and recycling more of the metal. In 2023, the company said it recycled 117 metric tons of cobalt. Musk aims to eventually eliminate cobalt from Tesla’s batteries, noting that cobalt currently makes up just 3% of a Tesla battery by weight. The new lithium iron phosphate batteries Tesla has started using contain no cobalt.
However,
Tesla has not provided recent details on its annual cobalt usage. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, while the 3% figure remains accurate, overall cobalt consumption is rising due to increasing vehicle sales.
“Despite cobalt consumption trending down slowly on a per-unit basis,
overall consumption is rising due to increasing vehicle sales,” said Caspar Rawles, chief data officer at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
Posner and his coauthors argue that the best way to address labor problems at artisanal mines is to officially acknowledge their role in the supply chain and work to improve their conditions. “Rather than ignore it and pretend it’s not their problem, companies need to formalize these sites to ensure kids are not on them and that people work in safe conditions,” Posner said.
Glencore recognizes the importance of artisanal mining as a source of employment and supports making it as responsible as possible, Watenphul added.
Musk’s discrepancy between promised action and reality is not unusual for the billionaire, who has a history of bold but unmet promises. Cobalt, a crucial component in Tesla’s electric vehicle batteries, remains a contentious issue due to the significant ethical and human rights concerns surrounding its extraction.
