ELECTRIC vehicles: a SIGNIFICANT human and environmental cost

… To run, EVs require six times the mineral input, by weight, of conventional vehicles

… These minerals, including cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese, are finite resources

… mining and processing them can be harmful for workers, their communities and the local environment

… while batteries may vary in composition, they generally rely on the same set of materials

… The five minerals most critical to EV batteries are each concentrated in just a handful of countries

… hundreds of square miles once used for farming have been acquired by mining companies

… Seventy percent of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo

… The U.S. Labor Department estimates that between 5,000 and 35,000 children, some as young as 6, work in these unregulated operations

… Taking the minerals out of the ground is only the first step

… The ore is almost never pure and needs to be refined, or processed

… When it comes to processing, there is one major player: China

… handles more than half of the minerals critical to EV batteries

… Beijing controls the lion’s share of the world’s processing infrastructure

… 75 percent of the world’s battery production capacity, according to the International Energy Agency