A damning new report has exposed troubling realities underpinning Britain's transition to green energy, driven by shadowy supply chains from countries with dire human rights records.
GB News has been given exclusive access to a devastating report by think-tank Facts4EU and its partner organisations - The Campaign for an Independent Britain and Stand for Our Sovereignty.
The People's Channel understands overseas suppliers powering Britain's Net Zero mission are accused of being rife with child labour, deaths and "silent cartels".
The revelations emerge as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband commits Britain to closer cooperation with China on offshore wind farms, electricity grids, battery storage, carbon capture and hydrogen.
China currently maintains a near-monopoly over the global cobalt supply chain, controlling nearly every stage from extraction to processing.
These minerals are an essential part of lithium-ion batteries, without which the hundreds of thousands of imported Chinese cars flooding the British market would not run.
Even more critically, the entire electricity infrastructure would grind to a halt, as enormous battery storage facilities are essential for capturing electricity needed when the sun fails to shine and the wind stops blowing.
While China holds only about one per cent of the world’s natural cobalt reserves, Chinese companies dominate the global supply chain, controlling roughly 46 per cent of mined cobalt production, set to grow by 2030.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on a recent trip to China | GETTYChinese firms own 15 of the 19 major cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces more than 75 per cent of the world's supply.
This concentration of control at virtually every stage of production has created what the report describes as a "silent cartel" over this critical resource.
The new report witnessed by GB News reveals cobalt mining operations are taking place on an industrial scale in primitive conditions, where mass deaths are a regular occurrence.
Tragically, young children are used as a labour force, and are among the victims of the regular accidents which occur during the extraction of rare minerals being mined.
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Congo is responsible for up to 40 per cent of the world's coltan | REUTERSIn February, a mine collapse in the eastern Congolese city of Rubaya killed hundreds of people, including 70 children.
Beyond recurring deaths under dire conditions, the exploitation of young workers within artisanal and small-scale mining operations throughout the country remains widespread.
Vast areas are now run by the Chinese, with the apparent complicity of the government in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, allegedly involving corruption on a significant scale.
Ben Philips, Vice-Chairman of The Campaign for an Independent Britain, said: "For a Labour Government to be actively working with the Chinese Government on this, when they are guilty of breaking many international laws and treaties on the treatment of workers, is quite extraordinary."
While being forced to work around imminent risk to life, workers are paid the bare minimum as a cruel supplement.
On average, mine workers earn about the equivalent of £5.90 per 9.5-hour working day, with a proportion earning less than half that amount.
The report highlights one mine, where 40,000 children are said to be working and receive "a pittance", despite being subject to the same risks as their adult peers.
While it remains unclear just how dependent the UK is on its import of these rare minerals, it appears the UK has been taking over one-quarter of the world's importing market at 25.3 per cent, behind the US at 34.8 per cent.
Lord Redwood said the Government should impose higher standards on imports
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Lord Redwood told GB News: "The so-called ‘green’ products - batteries, turbines and solar panels - require big quantities of copper, cobalt, lithium, rare earths and other hard-to-get chemicals.
"The Chinese were early into the business opportunities. They set about controlling key deposits worldwide, investing in new and expanded sites and accepting bad standards of employee safety, payment and welfare. The results are well-documented in this excellent Facts4EU report.
"The government’s net zero policies are an economic disaster, closing down all our petrol car factories, losing us refineries and petrochemical plants, giving us high cost energy which drives out jobs and investment.
"It is even worse if we import from China and her suppliers materials and finished products based on dreadful standards for employees, doing environmental damage.
"The Government should enforce high standards on imports to ensure there is no child labour, poverty pay and unsafe working."
GB News has contacted the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for comment.