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Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining

Chevy Bolt wins 2017 Green Car of the Year

We knew that a plug-in vehicle was going to win the 2017 Green Car of the Year award this year, given that all five finalists have a way to charge up. And when Ron Cogan, the editor and publisher of Green Car Journal, announced the winner – the 2017 Chevy Bolt EV – he said that the car itself represents one of those times in the auto industry when everything is about to change. Similar to the invention of the starter motor, things are about to get different. For now, though, the fact that the Bolt EV won an award sounds like the same old thing all over again. Just this week, it was named Motor Trends Car of the Year and to the Car And Driver Top 10 list. The other four finalists for Green Car of the Year included the Toyota Prius Prime, the Chrysler Pacifica, the Kia Optima (including hybrid and plug-in hybrid models) and the BMW 330e iPerformance. Last year, the winner was the 2016 Chevy Volt. Did Green Car Journal make the right selection this year? See the award ceremony below.

Options sheet for the BMW M2 leaks

The same folks over at the 2addicts forum that brought us preliminary specs on the BMW M2 have apparently gotten their hands on the option sheet for what will be the littlest M. Reports indicate 365 horsepower and 343 pound-feet of torque from turbocharged, 3.0-liter inline-six, working through either a six-speed manual transmission or a seven-speed dual-clutch. Other features on the car won't be so replete with choice. According to the options sheet provided by a forum member there's only one wheel style available, 19-inch black numbers, said to be the black light alloy double spoke wheels that can be specced on the M4. There's a parking sensor fitted to the rear, but no sensor option for the front of the car. Navigation Pro and carbon interior inserts are standard, as is the Shadowline black exterior trim, which swaps out chrome trim around the windows and other places for muted black. Among the options will be power heated seats, a rearview camera, adaptive headlights, an upgraded Harman Kardon stereo, and a five-year warranty. Those adaptive headlights are xenon; LED headlights aren't available. Neither is a carbon fiber roof. But there will be a moonroof option, BMW's Electronic Damper Control, and proper M seats by the looks of it - the coupe will get M235i seats as standard. Take this news with some salt - the order information comes from a Belgian member who ordered his Euro-spec car, so US option mileage might vary. Related Video: