These impacts are particularly prevalent in artisanal, small-scale cobalt mining, which currently accounts for approximately 20% of the cobalt extracted in the DRC (Al Barazi et al. 20 Lindberg and Andersson 2019 Sovacool 2019 Bamana et al.
2011 Amnesty International 2013 Elenge 2013 Amnesty International and Afrewatch 2016 Faber et al. 2011 Elenge and De Brouwer 2011 Tsurukawa et al. Although not counted among of the traditional 3TG conflict minerals (i.e., tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold), cobalt mined in the DRC has been associated with numerous health and social impacts, including high exposure to cobalt and other toxicants from mining (including dust), occupational accidents, long working hours, child labor, corruption, and displacement of indigenous people (Banza et al. The DRC currently provides around 70% of the global cobalt supply, partly through artisanal mining, which provides livelihood for almost 200,000 people (BGR 2019 OECD 2019). Like diamonds of certain origins, cobalt mined from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been associated with the noun “blood” in news media (Kennedy 2017 Lindberg and Andersson 2019). In order to reduce the health impacts of the studied LIB, it is recommended to (i) investigate the feasibility of replacing the copper foil with another material able to provide anode current collector functionality, (ii) reduce emissions from metal extraction (particularly nickel and copper), (iii) increase the recycled content of metals supplied to the LIB manufacturing, and (iv) improve the occupational standards in artisanal mining in the DRC, in particular by reducing fatal accidents. These contributions are sensitive to the selected time horizon of the life-cycle assessment, with longer or shorter time horizons leading to considerably increased or decreased health impacts, respectively. However, emissions from production of nickel sulfate (used in the cathode) and of copper foil (the anode current collector) contribute even more (30% and 20%, respectively). ResultsĪpplying the high fatality rate, occupational accidents in the artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC contribute notably to the total life-cycle health impacts of the LIB cell (13%). Two scenarios for fatality rates in the artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC are considered: a high scenario at 2000 fatalities/year and a low scenario at 65 fatalities/year. Potential health impacts from both emissions and occupational accidents are quantified in terms of DALY, making this an impact pathway (or type II) study with regard to social impact assessment. The studied LIB is produced in a large-scale “gigafactory” in Sweden, the cobalt sulfate for the cathode is produced in China, and the cobalt raw material is sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). MethodsĪ cradle-to-gate attributional life-cycle assessment study is conducted with the functional unit of one LIB cell and human health as the sole endpoint considered. The aim is to quantify the potential life-cycle health impacts of an LIB cell of the type nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC 811) in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALY), as well as to identify hotspots and ways to reduce the health impacts. This study focuses on human health impacts - arguably the most fundamental of all social impacts. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been criticized for contributing to negative social impacts along their life cycles, especially child labor and harsh working conditions during cobalt extraction.
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