Volvo Cars, owned by China’s Geely, has produced the first cars containing recycled cobalt mapped using a blockchain, and has joined a separate project to monitor cobalt from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Carmakers are under pressure from customers and investors to prove electric vehicles do not rely on conflict minerals or child labour. They are exploring the usefulness of blockchain – the technology to create a distributed ledger first used for cryptocurrency – to improve accountability throughout supply chains. The blockchain has been developed by British blockchain specialist Circulor using technology from US company Oracle and is expected to be rolled out widely this year. Volvo also confirmed it was joining fellow automaker Ford, technology giant IBM, South Korean cathode maker LG Chem and China’s Huayou Cobalt in a project overseen by responsible-sourcing group RCS Global. Among battery minerals, cobalt is particularly challenging because around two thirds of all supplies are from DRC, where governance risks are extreme.

Posted by

Reuters