PARIS -- BMW AG plans to buy cobalt, a key component for electric vehicle batteries, directly from mines in Australia and Morocco to ensure they are not produced by child labor, an executive said on Tuesday.
The announcement came as the London Metal Exchange launched an initiative under which it could ban or delist brands that are not responsibly sourced by 2022 to help root out metal tainted by child labor or corruption.
Andreas Wendt, BMW board member responsible for procurement, told a briefing in Paris that the new supply of cobalt would be used in the carmaker's next generation of EVs in 2020.