Cobalt

Should Microsoft join a global moratorium on underwater mineral mining until the harm mining could do to the oceans is thoroughly assessed?

Global technology giant Microsoft designs, manufactures, and sells a range of software, services, and devices, including the Windows operating system, Microsoft Office, Azure cloud computing services, and hardware products such as Surface tablets and Xbox gaming consoles. Sourcing the cobalt for the lithium-ion batteries in its hardware products presents Microsoft with a dilemma. Terrestrial cobalt mining ravages environments and produces considerable emissions. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, home of most of the world's cobalt, the metal is extracted with forced labor, child labor, and exploitation. Cobalt is also found in the deep oceans. However, environmentalists and many global governments decry undersea cobalt mining as unnecessary and damaging to precious deep ocean biospheres. Microsoft must balance its need for reliable cobalt supplies with company ethical and environmental standards, though terrestrial and ocean cobalt are both imperfect sources with ethical and environmental risks and controversies.