Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
Apple Inc said on Thursday it would use only recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025 as a part of its efforts to make all its products carbon neutral by the end of the decade.
Magnets in Apple devices will use recycled rare earth elements, and in-house designed printed circuit boards will use recycled tin soldering and gold plating, the company said.
Apple is pushing to become carbon neutral through its entire supply chain and the life cycle of every product by 2030. On Tuesday, it also doubled its financial commitment to a fund it had established two years ago to invest in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
In the past, several tech companies have been accused of being complicit in the death of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forced to mine cobalt, a critical material in the batteries used in most consumer electronics.
Most cobalt is produced as a by-product of copper or nickel mining, but artisanal miners in southern Congo exploit deposits near the surface that are rich in cobalt.
A quarter of all cobalt used in Apple products came from recycled material in 2022, up from 13% a year earlier, Apple said.
It now sources over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earths, and more than 95% of all tungsten in its products from recycled material.
(By Nivedita Balu; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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