80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain set to be zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035. (Gov.UK)

AT What point does this "zero emission car" start ? at beginning of production ? The tires are made form petroleum the Paint is made from petroleum ..if this is the case then the above statement is Totally a False and misleading claim.

Child labour, toxic leaks: the price we could pay for a greener future

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Our mission to create cleaner living using natural resources could itself cause widespread environmental harm, scientists now warn

“The move towards net zero carbon emissions is going to create new stresses on our planet, at least in the short term,” said Prof Richard Herrington, head of earth sciences at the Natural History Museum, London. “We are going to have to learn how to consider profit and loss with regard to ecosystems just as we do now when we are considering economic issues.”

Metals such as lithium and cobalt provide examples of the awkward issues that lie ahead, said Herrington. Both elements are needed to make lightweight rechargeable batteries for electric cars and for storing power from wind and solar plants. Their production is likely to increase significantly over the next decade – and that could cause serious ecological problems.

In the case of cobalt, 60% of the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo where large numbers of unregulated mines use children as young as seven as miners. There they breathe in cobalt-laden dust that can cause fatal lung ailments while working tunnels that are liable to collapse.

Miners in the DRC pull up a bag of cobalt – vital for the production of rechargeable batteries. Photograph: Sebastian Meyer/Corbis/Getty Images

women in cobalt mine DRC.

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