Tesla Shareholders Point to Human Rights Risks in Sourcing Nickel From Russian Nornickel

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Tesla shareholders said that sourcing nickel from Russian metals producer Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) presents human rights risks as the company was not deemed to have paid enough compensation to indigenous people after a Russian Arctic fuel spill that affected their life and environment last year.

"As Tesla seeks to source more nickel for electric vehicle production, its failure to demonstrate responsible sourcing presents risks. Russian Indigenous activists urge Tesla not to source from Norilsk Nickel until it remediates devastating environmental, cultural, and economic harms from a major oil spill that impacted the traditional territory and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples," Tesla shareholders stated in preparatory documents for the 2021 annual meeting of stockholders, published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an opposing statement of the Board of Directors, Tesla said it had never entered into any agreement with Nornickel.

Nornickel said that it did not disclose any information on its contracts.

"As for cooperation with indigenous peoples of Taimyr [in Siberia], Nornickel has already taken and will take a range of practical steps to support them, including a complex program worth over 2 billion rubles [$26,953]. The company maintains a direct dialogue with indigenous peoples’ communes. Following the incident in May 2020 there were paid 170 million rubles to indigenous peoples’ communes as a compensation," the company representative added.

Nickel is an important component of e-cars engines. In July 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he was willing to sign a contract with a nickel manufacturer that is committed to sustainable development. In July 2021, Australia large mining company BHP and Tesla reached an agreement on nickel supplies from west Australian plant Nickel West.

In May 2020 in Siberia, some 21,000 tonnes of diesel fuel leaked from a thermal power plant of the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, which is affiliated with Nornickel, contaminating two rivers and surrounding soil. The spill was initially believed to have been caused by the melting of permafrost that supports the faulty power plant's fuel tank in motion. A criminal case was launched into the incident.