Policy puts spotlight on slave labour in the solar panel supply chain

The global industry depends on Chinese raw materials that might be produced by forced labour. Photo / AP

By Phil Pennington of RNZ

Labour wants a lot more solar panels on homes - but what about the slave labour used to make the panels?

With the Government failing to get its draft legislation against slave labour into Parliament in time, proponents of controls want assurances the country will not turn a blind eye to the issue.

China makes 90 per cent of the world’s solar panels, and much of the polysilicon in them comes from the western province of Xinjiang, where Muslim Uyghurs are used for forced labour.

China’s stranglehold is so great that Europe’s solar sector this month pleaded for a €100 million ($179 million) bailout.

Solar panel use on homes in this country would more than double under Labour’s policy announced last week.

Campaign group World Vision NZ wants assurances.

“We would hope that, [as] with any policy [relating to] human rights, due diligence into the conditions in which solar panels are produced would be a top priority for the Government,” said spokesperson Morgan Theakston.

The US blocks suspect panels at the border under the year-old Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act.

Polysilicon is one of four targets - another is tomatoes - and the US extended the law just last month to target more products, having already blocked US$1.3 billion ($2.2b) worth.

However, new UK research says a lot of major companies are still exposed to the tainted supply chain.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta last year told the media more needed to be done, as the Government did not know whether tainted solar panels were coming into the country.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A Labour spokesperson said it was committed to implementing a disclosure system to tackle modern slavery that would “be among the world’s strongest reporting systems for tackling modern slavery”.

They did not address how or if this was factored into its solar panel booster policy.

Its draft law would have required companies bringing in $20m-plus a year in revenue to report how they had tackled exploitation risks in supply chains.

Theakston said the next Parliament needed to pick up Labour’s draft legislation - and take it further.

“We would like to see all parties commit to progressing this”, she said, and to add the requirement to not just report back on their supply chains, but to take action over what they found.

The National Party said: “This is an issue that needs attention. For many years, Labour neglected to get on to it - National will.”

The Act Party said it did not have a specific policy to promote solar.

“We think people can weigh up their own potential concerns and decide whether they choose to invest in solar themselves.”

As for the draft legislation, its caucus has not seen it so “has never had a chance to consider it and form a position”.

The Green Party did not comment.

Labour MP Ingrid Leary, co-chairwoman of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said she could not speak about the party’s solar panel policy development, but “the fact that this Government has been working on modern slavery laws is an indication that it takes human rights really seriously”.

“As IPAC co-chair, I would like to see a positive duty of care where the risks are greatest.”

The various party members of IPAC supported bringing in modern slavery laws to cover specific products from any country where there was a known risk of modern slavery, she added.

Labour’s policy is also for Kāinga Ora to use more solar.

“All companies involved in the manufacture of the solar PV panels we install on our homes have ethical workplace practices in place.”

The Sustainable Energy Association says all factories should sign the global Solar Industry Forced Labour Prevention Pledge.

It worked with the Government on contracts to exclude any forced labour, and “encourages them to implement policy to ensure the import of solar panels into the country aligns with their own procurement policy”.

Nearly half of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon is produced in Xinjiang, where a reported 2.6 million people, mostly Muslim Uyghurs, have been subjected to forced labour in detention camps.

Globally, the industry had been cutting some ties to China, but a lot of supply chains remained opaque, the new UK research from Sheffield Hallam University said.

The US law aims to not just deter, but punish companies that benefit from Chinese state-sponsored forced labour.

RNZ approached the Chinese embassy for comment.

- RNZ