We have great news for you!
At SUSHI BIKES, we are aware of our responsibility to the planet and its people and are continuously working towards greater sustainability. We recently became the first e-bike brand to join the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA) to increase our impact on cobalt mining and support fair working conditions throughout the entire supply chain.
In this guest article, David Sturmes , Director of Programs & Business Development at the Fair Cobalt Alliance, talks about the challenges associated with cobalt extraction and why industry-wide collaboration is being sought. We have translated the article from the original language (English). If you prefer to read the original version, you can switch from German to English using the dropdown menu in the top right corner of this page in desktop view. In mobile view, you can first open the menu in the top left using the three lines and then change the language.
Now we leave the rest of the post to him!
David Sturmes, Director Programme & Business Development at FCA writes:
The FCA welcomes SUSHI BIKES as a member.
We are pleased to welcome SUSHI BIKES to the Fair Cobalt Alliance, a member organization committed to responsible cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of Congo. SUSHI BIKES is the first e-bike manufacturer and one of over 20 organizations to join the FCA. Their decision to join the FCA is an important step for their responsible sourcing. But what's the deal with cobalt? Why is everyone talking about the battery metal?
Cobalt - the key to a green revolution?
Cobalt—a mineral that was unknown to most people just 10 years ago—is now at the center of the sustainability debate. Historically, it was used to dye porcelain blue—hence the name cobalt blue. Today, it is a mineral primarily used in the manufacture of batteries used in electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and energy storage devices.
Lithium-ion batteries are the most common batteries that use cobalt, with cobalt making up to 20% of the cathode's weight. The metal is added to increase the number of charges during a battery's life cycle, making cobalt a very useful material for extending the useful life of batteries and thus increasing the product's sustainability.
Copper-cobalt ore mined in an artisanal mine in Kolwezi, DR Congo.
From mine to market - tracing cobalt to its origin.
Despite its high utility, there are many concerns about how and where cobalt is mined. Cobalt is highly concentrated in one particular part of the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Other countries, such as Australia, Morocco, the United States, and China, have some reserves of the commodity, but about 50% of the world's reserves are located in the south of this Central African country, a rather challenging environment for sourcing. Despite its unparalleled wealth of mineral resources, the Democratic Republic of Congo has one of the highest rates of poverty and corruption. The mining law, which would provide clear regulations for the mining sector, has not been enforced.
This has led to conditions on the ground that many describe as unacceptable – I am speaking specifically about the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, which is responsible for an estimated 5-10% of the world's cobalt supply – where mining is carried out by Congolese men, women and, in many cases, children using the most rudimentary tools, i.e. hammers and chisels, plastic bags and bicycles for transport, sometimes up to 80 metres underground.
Artisanal cobalt mining is an important source of income for more than 150,000 men and women.
The big puzzle: Is responsible, artisanal cobalt sourcing an unattainable goal?
Cobalt gained notoriety after Amnesty International published a 2016 report highlighting its link to child labor. At the time, UNICEF estimated that up to 30,000 children and adolescents could be working in the Congolese cobalt sector. Unable to distinguish between artisanal and industrially mined cobalt, many companies around the world reacted reflexively and preferred to stop sourcing the material from the DRC. Some companies and CEOs even went so far as to publicly declare that they would focus on removing cobalt from their products.
The truth is that, despite our best efforts, we are unable to find a solution that eliminates the need for cobalt, and there is no reason to abandon this raw material for sustainability reasons. After all, it contributes to battery life, but we must address the challenges associated with artisanal mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Even if you were to withdraw from Congo and source the mineral elsewhere—including by integrating recycled cobalt into your supply chain—there's a good chance the material will be combined with Congolese material by the time it reaches battery suppliers in China, where it's currently difficult to determine whether the material comes from an industrial or artisanal mine due to a lack of traceability and supply chain complexity.
A large portion of the workforce is women, who typically wash the ore to increase the purity and concentration of the material. The FCA recently provided protective clothing to ensure they are not directly exposed to the dirty water.
ASM Cobalt - more of an overlooked opportunity than a risk to be avoided.
However, we must clarify that we do not believe that artisanal mining is inherently bad. While this may be the first time you've heard of it, an estimated 40 million people are employed in this sector worldwide. Artisanal mining is not a fringe activity limited to cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo; it encompasses other metals such as gold, tungsten, tin, diamonds, gemstones, sandstone, and even lead, and employs men and women in Asia, Africa, and South America. These people are, in most cases, proud to call artisanal mining their livelihood. The mining laws of countries where artisanal mining is practiced often recognize artisanal mining as a legitimate activity. They codify rules for the sector, just as they apply to industrial mining, including taxation and land rehabilitation requirements. But in many of these countries, the discrepancy between the letter of the law and its implementation on the ground leads to the existing challenges.
Rather than withdrawing from the sector, our philosophy is to be part of the solution and create safe and decent working conditions on the ground. By definition, artisanal miners rely on the most rudimentary tools and are often unable to achieve safe working conditions and effective production processes. The key to harnessing the sector's development potential lies in providing access to the financing and investment necessary to professionalize working conditions, despite the small scale of the activities.
Our goal is to enable the estimated more than 150,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo to work safely and earn a decent income from their hard work. We ensure that no children are present, that proper measures are taken, and that miners pay their fair share of taxes according to Congolese law.
Responsible procurement begins with taking responsibility
Since no single player can transform the sector alone, investing in the sector on this scale is only possible through collaboration. The Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA) was created as a platform where companies across the supply chain can positively contribute to the development of the artisanal mining sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo by viewing this sector as an overlooked opportunity rather than a risk to be avoided.
For us, this means that responsible sourcing begins with taking responsibility. To achieve better practices, we must help create those practices by investing in the skills development and infrastructure needed to keep people employed. More than five years after Amnesty International drew attention to conditions in this sector, one thing is clear: ignoring ASM, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or even cobalt in general has unintended consequences that could put the men and women who work in this sector—and, more importantly, the children we seek to protect and lift out of child labor—even more at risk than they already are.
The FCA supports the local partner cooperative CMDS by conducting first aid training for more than 100 safety captains.
The Fair Cobalt Alliance; a cross-sectoral action platform enabling a just transition to a sustainable green economy.
The FCA is an action platform launched as a multi-stakeholder initiative—meaning not only multiple companies are involved, but also non-profit actors who have joined forces to address local challenges. Our members include companies from across the cobalt supply chain, from industrial mining companies like Glencore and CMOC to companies in the middle of the battery supply chain like ATL, Freyr, and British Volt, to consumer-facing companies like Fairphone, Signify, Sono Motors, and now SUSHI BIKES.
With the financial support of our members, we have developed a holistic program on site that includes a series of projects to create decent working conditions in the artisanal mines.
We do this by:
- training workers and advocating for investment in these mining sites
- Remedies for child labor, i.e. children identified at mine sites are not simply sent away, but are given support to attend school, complete vocational training, or complete an internship so that they are no longer dependent on the income they earned from mining
- The goal is to increase workers' incomes by changing the way cobalt is traded at mine sites, but also to invest in various livelihood opportunities that increase the income of people in the community - so that mining becomes a choice rather than the default option because there are no alternatives.
We work with local civil society and local partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including organizations such as CMDS, the local cooperative that operates the Kamilombe mine, which FCA has supported since its launch in August 2020.
The FCA is still a young organization. The past year has been challenging due to a global pandemic and political changes in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nevertheless, we have been able to make significant progress, establish ourselves, and establish strong partnerships with local civil society and relevant government agencies. We recently published our first impact report, which is committed to transparency and openness regarding the successes and challenges of our young initiative. In it, we disclose not only the achievements to date but also the financials of our organization.
Infographic from the FCA’s impact report:
SUSHI BIKES X FCA: a commitment to sustainability beyond the immediate footprint.
We are delighted that SUSHI BIKES has become the first e-bike manufacturer to join the Fair Cobalt Alliance. SUSHI BIKES' membership not only helps us realize our vision of fully representing the cobalt supply chain and contributing to the shared goal of making cobalt from Congo a responsible source of cobalt, but also demonstrates to other small and medium-sized enterprises like SUSHI BIKES—a small startup with a small team and still at the beginning of its journey—that responsible sourcing is not the privilege of large international corporations, but everyone's responsibility.
By joining FCA, SUSHI BIKES demonstrates its commitment to sustainability beyond the immediate footprint of its products: It's not just about advancing e-mobility and achieving a carbon-neutral society, but also about considering the impact of its products throughout the entire supply chain, right at the source of the minerals that make our lives possible today. I congratulate SUSHI BIKES on this step in the right direction and look forward to a fruitful collaboration in the coming years.
Further information and links:
- Visit sushi-bikes.com/impact and learn more about sustainability at SUSHI BIKES
- read a guest article by Andy , founder and CEO of SUSHI BIKES about joining the Fair Cobalt Alliance
- Download the FCA's 2021 Impact and Finance Report here
