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Summary LAS432 Week 5 Course Project Individual Draft.docx LAS432 Course Project: Individual Draft DeVry University LAS432: Technology, Society and Culture Course Project: Individual Draft Introduction My team, Team 3 Allstars, selected the topic of e
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LAS432 Week 5 Course Project Individual D LAS432 Course Project: Individual Draft DeVry University LAS432: Technology, Society and Culture Course Project: Individual Draft Introduction My team, Team 3 Allstars, selected the topic of electric vehicles and their negative impact on the en...
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LAS432
Course Project: Individual Draft
DeVry University
LAS432: Technology, Society and Culture
Course Project: Individual Draft
Introduction
My team, Team 3 Allstars, selected the topic of electric vehicles and their
negative impact on the environment for our project in this course. There are several key
issues surrounding this topic and I have been tasked with covering the ethical concerns
regarding child labor and the lack of regulations in countries who supply these raw materials.
Draft
The production of electric vehicles requires multiple raw materials such as cobalt,
lithium, copper, graphite and nickel. One pressing issue surrounding these raw
materials is the distinct lack of governance for these supply chains. Over the past several
years, the increasing conflict risks of cobalt sourcing has gathered attention internationally
and some civil and private groups have added the responsible sourcing of cobalt to their
directives. Unfortunately, the conflict risks surrounding other minerals such as lithium and
nickel are still mostly unknown and therefore left out of much of the current governance
over the mineral supply chain.
Although we have witnessed several states, international agencies and private sector
entities introduce legislation and other guidance designed to address a number of these
issues by impeding the flow of conflict minerals while advocating for more responsibly and
sustainably sourced mineral supply chains, there remains a large gap between these new
laws and regulations and their actual execution at the ground level. While the European
, Union has developed its Conflict Minerals Regulation which will go into effect January of
2021, it only applies to the 3TG materials (tungsten, tantalum, tin and gold) that are mined
in the DRC and surrounding area leaving out minerals such as cobalt and lithium as noted
in a 2017 review published by lawyers with K&L Gates LLP (Megregian, Green, &
Romata, 2017). This regulation is set for review in 2024 so it is possible that other minerals
such as cobalt and lithium could be included. However, there are concerns that the
implementation of said regulations could be stalled or otherwise exploited allowing conflict
mineral syndicates time to adjust and circumvent the law. The U.S. Frank Dodd Act also
promotes responsible, transparent supply chains for certain minerals, it also only applies to
the 3TG materials.
Unfortunately, corruption is found everywhere and many governing bodies across the
globe are continually combating corruption within their own ranks. As previously noted, over
50% of the world’s cobalt supply is sourced from the DRC, which is ranked as one of the
most corrupt countries in the world. It is well known that the local government does not have
sufficient laws and regulations regarding raw materials sourced in the country. Another
concern is that government officials still often aid and/or directly benefit from conflict
mineral syndicates’ activities by allowing them to continue operations under unethical and,
quite often, even illegal practices, as shown in various research findings such as Benjamin
Sovacool’s recent study on the volatile political economy currently surrounding mining in the
DRC (Sovacool, 2019).
Although new guidelines, procedures, and regulations have facilitated growing
importance being placed on sustainable, environmentally friendly sourcing and production,
another set of issues presented by this subtopic are the potential risks involved with the
extraction of raw materials such as lithium which still remain for those living in the
communities near such sites as well as the issues surrounding its disposal after use.
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