Forced Labor, Child Miners, Payment in Drugs—Clean Energy Supply Chain Has Issues

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Government officials call for vigilance in the global ramp-up of renewables.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The Australian clean energy industry has warned of growing evidence linking renewable energy supply chains to modern slavery and urged companies and governments to act to eliminate it.

A report by the Clean Energy Council, representing renewable energy companies and solar installers, has called for more local renewable energy production and manufacturing and a “certificate of origin” scheme to counter concerns about slave labor in mineral extraction and manufacturing in China, Africa and South America.

Released on Tuesday, the paper said slavery in all supply chains was a global problem. But Australia is on a trajectory toward generating the vast majority of its electricity from solar, wind, hydro, and batteries by 2030 and needs to play an active role in addressing it in renewable energy industries.

“We’re at a moment in time when renewable energy supply chains are going to be scaling up significantly,” Dr Nick Aberle, the Clean Energy Council’s energy generation and storage policy director, said. “That means now is a critical opportunity to shape the future direction of those supply chains.”

NSW’s anti-slavery commissioner, Dr James Cockayne, said urgent action was needed to address “the severe modern slavery risks in Australian renewable energy supply chains and investments”.

“We need to see industry, government, the financial sector, and civil society working together to provide access to competitively costed, slavery-free renewable energy,” he said. “If we don’t, modern slavery risks significantly complicating the just transition to a decarbonised economy.”

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