?? Battery in ESG: May Newsletter

?? ESG in the Battery Supply Chain?

All materials l Extraction, Manufacturing | Forced labour? According to a report by the Senate Finance Committee chairman, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen used parts made by Chinese supplier Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group (JWD) who features on the UFLPA (Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act) Entity List since December 2023.?

Aluminium l All stages | Energy & GHGs South Korea’s Hyundai has cancelled its deal with Indonesian aluminium producer PT Adora Minerals Indonesia Tbk after a climate campaigner backed by K-POP fans, due to the supplies of the material being produced using coal power.

Iron l Extraction | Water & soil pollution, Community rights & impacts? A UK iron mining company has been brought to court over accusations of damaging the environment, health, crops and water supplies of local communities near its Brazilian mine.

All l Downstream | Physical Climate Risk,, Community rights & impacts?? CEO and directors of French oil company TotalEnergies have been brought to court over accusations that the company’s fossil fuel exploitation has contributed to the deaths of victims of climate-fuelled extreme weather disasters.

All l Downstream | Physical Climate Risk, Community rights & impacts? Between January 2015 and December 2023, the Human Rights Resource Centre documented over 5,300 attacks globally against Human Rights Defenders challenging corporates.? In 2023, 630 attacks affecting an estimated 20,000 people were identified, 78% of which were against people taking action to protect the climate, environmental and land rights.?

?? Regulation Watch?

The EU Council has given its final approval of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. As a reminder, the directive requires large companies to report on the adverse impacts of their activities (including their subsidiaries and business partners) on human rights and environmental protection.?

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has published the final report containing guidelines on funds using ESG or sustainability-related terms. The guidelines establish that to be able to use these terms, a minimum threshold of 80% of investments should be used to meet environmental and social characteristics or sustainable investment objectives.

The European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act came into force earlier this month. By 2030 the EU should source no more than 65% of any strategic raw material from any single non-EU country. The EU will need to lean heavily on international partners to meet this requirement and overcome China’s dominance in the critical mineral space.

The EU Battery Regulation includes life-cycle carbon footprint requirements. As a first step in implementing the carbon footprint requirements for electric vehicle batteries, this act lays down the methodology for calculating and verifying their life-cycle carbon footprint.

That’s all for this month’s newsletter! If you have any topics you’d like us to cover, shoot us a message on Linkedin or at [email protected].