75% of battery supply chain at risk of violating US and EU forced labour laws

By Cameron Murray, Energy-Storage.news · 18 September 2024

Three-quarters of the lithium-ion battery supply chain could have exposure to forced labour, contravening US and EU laws and potentially leading to products being blocked from those markets, according to a report from AI supply chain risk platform Infyos.

The report notes that Infyos’ analysis of thousands of data sources reveals that many of the largest automotive, energy storage and other industry firms use lithium-ion batteries that could have exposure to human rights abuses in their supply chain. Lithium-ion is the predominant technology used for battery energy storage systems (BESS) today.

Infyos CEO and co-founder Sarah Montgomery and head of sustainability Jeff Williamson discussed the findings and significance for the industry with Energy-Storage.news. The company provides a platform to show its research and allow suppliers and customers to record mitigating actions.

The company didn’t name which lithium-ion original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) it has specifically identified with the risks, but pointed to recent calls by Republican lawmakers in the US to immediately block shipments of batteries from China-based firms CATL and Gotion.