Tracing Hidden Hands: How Global Transport Fuels Child Labor in Resource Production

Tboli Sunbird

23-10-2025

Kingfisher flutters his wings. “Conservation without Dao is like a river without fish. The fish are not numbers. They are rhythms. I do not disturb the rhythm. I join it.”

In Kingfisherish Wandering [1]

© Wix

As the world races toward clean energy and electric mobility, a darker reality remains hidden beneath the surface: millions of children are still trapped in the supply chains that sustain modern transport [2,3]. A new study by Sugiyama, Zeng, and Matsubae [4] quantifies, for the first time, how child labor in mining and agriculture connects to the global transport equipment sector—particularly in major automobile-producing countries such as China, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

Using a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model [5], the researchers mapped “responsibility pathways of child labor” (RPC)—tracing how materials sourced through child labor flow into industrial supply chains. Their findings reveal that child labor in Ethiopian coffee farming is linked to the transport equipment sectors of these countries, with probabilities exceeding 80%. In addition, gold mining in Brazil and cobalt extraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) contribute nearly half of the child labor pathways leading to transport equipment production in the United States and Germany.

These patterns reflect how the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries—expected to grow thirtyfold by 2040 [6]—is amplifying social risks in mineral supply chains. The study’s results show that low-carbon transitions are not automatically “just transitions.” Without robust human rights due diligence and transparency mechanisms, such as the EU’s proposed digital product passport, environmental goals risk being achieved at the expense of children’s education, health, and safety.

From a Nature Quotient (NQ) perspective, these findings highlight a critical imbalance between technological ambition and ecological-ethical awareness [7]. A high NQ society values not only ecological harmony but also the moral ecology of production—where human dignity is inseparable from environmental integrity [8]. Addressing child labor thus becomes part of nurturing individual and social peace [9]. Individuals acting as conscious consumers, and societies reforming markets to reflect care, justice, and transparency. In the end, peace with nature cannot exist without peace among humans.

References

[1] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/

[2] Sovacool BK. (2021). When subterranean slavery supports sustainability transitions? Power, patriarchy, and child labor in artisanal Congolese cobalt mining. The Extractive Industries and Society, 8, 271-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.11.018

[3] ILO. (2019). Measuring child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in global supply chains: a global input-output approach technical paper. ILO.

[4] Sugiyama T, Zeng X, Matsubae K. (2025). Allocating child labor in resource production to the global transport sector. Resources Policy, 110, 105743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2025.105743

[5] Wiedmann T, et al. (2011). Quo vadis MRIO? Methodological, data and institutional requirements for multi-region input-output analysis. Ecological Economics, 70, 1937-1945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.06.014

[6] IEA. (2021). The role of critical minerals in clean energy transitions. IEA.

[7] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028

[8] Tran TT. (2025). Flying beyond didacticism: The creative environmental vision of ‘Wild Wise Weird’. Young Voices of Science. https://youngvoicesofscience.org/?p=1963

[9] Nguyen MH, Ho MT, La VP. (2025). On “An” (安): Inner peace through uncertainty, nature quotient, and harmony with Dao. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=NIKMEQAAQBAJ