Britain’s Battery Future Report

Lord Boateng Excerpts

Monday 13th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

We are monitoring the performance and efficacy of the ZEV mandate and last year we introduced additional flexibilities, providing manufacturers with more tools to decarbonise in a way that protects jobs and boosts investment. We have a large range of measures to support people to transition to zero-emission vehicles, including salary sacrifice schemes, generous company car tax rates for electric vehicles and the new electric car grant, as well as support for local EV infrastructure to support the transition.

[Lord Boateng (Lab)]

My Lords, two-thirds of the world’s production of cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The UK produces no cobalt whatever, yet our EV manufacturing industry relies heavily upon cobalt. Cobalt is extracted in Africa using child labour, with damage to the water aquifer and a range of other environmental and political degradation. What steps are the UK Government taking to ensure that their cuts in ODA do not impact adversely on countries such as the DRC?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

My noble friend is right to highlight the importance of battery supply chains and the challenges of potential forced labour exposure, particularly upstream, in raw material extraction and in refining stages. The UK is supporting international frameworks such as the UN guiding principles and the OECD guidelines so we can contribute our expertise in responsible mining and enable UK businesses to play a role in the development of global supply chains with strengthened due diligence.