{"id":1884,"date":"2024-03-11T15:12:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T19:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/?p=1884"},"modified":"2024-03-11T15:42:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T19:42:19","slug":"bay-area-leaders-join-lead-the-charge-coalition-members-to-discuss-priorities-for-cleaning-up-automotive-supply-chains-in-california-and-globally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/bay-area-leaders-join-lead-the-charge-coalition-members-to-discuss-priorities-for-cleaning-up-automotive-supply-chains-in-california-and-globally\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Area Leaders Join Lead the Charge Coalition Members to Discuss Priorities for Cleaning up Automotive Supply Chains in California, and Globally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lateefah Simon and State Senator Josh Becker joined members of Lead the Charge to highlight findings from the organization\u2019s second annual Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard<\/a> and discuss California\u2019s opportunity to exert pressure on automakers and their suppliers to clean up their supply chains as they transition to electric vehicles (EVs).<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Halisi Norfleet<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cClimate Change is our greatest challenge. It\u2019s the 21st century\u2019s equivalent to mobilizing during World War 2. As this site attests, we met that challenge with the might of California manufacturing, and we have a once in a lifetime chance to do it again,\u201d said State Senator and Chair of the Bay Area Caucus Josh Becker. \u201cWe\u2019re working to turn the Bay Area into a hub of battery manufacturing that, manufactures without degrading the environment, sources ethically, and collaborates with labor\u201d<\/p>\n

“We are in an exciting moment where auto workers across the country are demanding that jobs throughout the EV supply chain are good union jobs. California has an opportunity to lead by ensuring that public funding for the EV transition goes to companies that accelerate the EV transition by bargaining collectively with their workers so that society can collectively fight climate change,” said Mike Miller, Director, UAW Region 6<\/p>\n

The 2024 edition of the leaderboard struck a tone of guarded positivity highlighting a surge ahead by American automakers (most notably Ford and Tesla), human rights due diligence, and steel decarbonization. The positive news was tempered by poor scores and little progress on ensuring respect for worker\u2019s rights in auto supply chains. Most discouraging was the fact that virtually no progress was made, as an industry, on indigenous rights. 11\/18 companies scored 0 in that category and all but 3 automakers failed to improve their scores from last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a leader in the shift to electric vehicles, California has the opportunity to ensure we don\u2019t repeat the mistakes of the fossil fuel era,\u201d said Jared Naimark, California Mining Organizer for Earthworks. \u201cBefore lithium extraction at the Salton Sea can proceed, we must ensure that the rights of Indigenous Peoples will be respected and sacred landscapes protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speakers used the report to highlight the need for California to harness its tremendous buying power and nationwide policy influence to act as a leader in cleaning up battery, steel and aluminum supply chains.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs automakers develop new supply chains as part of the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles, we are in the middle of a once in a generation opportunity to force automakers to ensure they are sourcing clean metals and minerals,\u201d said Erika Thi Patterson, auto supply chain campaign director at Public Citizen. \u201cEven the companies with the most egregious supply chain practices, like Toyota, are vulnerable to market pressure if consumers emphatically demand change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Other speakers sounded a cautious note, discussing the importance of centering communities impacted by the extraction, combustion and processing of materials needed to build the supplies and infrastructure needed to combat climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur communities still feel the fallout from environmental racism over the last century,\u201d said Lateefah Simon. \u201cLead the Charge is leading the effort to make sure that our collective fight against climate change doesn\u2019t harm indigenous communities, workers, communities of color and folks all over the world who sacrifice their health and their lives for our steel, aluminum, and batteries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lateefah Simon and State Senator Josh Becker joined members of Lead the Charge to highlight findings from the organization\u2019s second annual Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard and discuss California\u2019s opportunity to…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadthecharge.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}