Nickel from deforested Indigenous land in Sulawesi traced to VW, Ford and Tesla battery supply chains

A Guardian and Voxeurop investigation traces nickel from the Cahaya and Hengjaya mines in Sulawesi, Indonesia, through Huayou’s Morowali smelter and Chinese cathode plants to CATL and LG, whose end-users include Volkswagen, Ford, Tesla, Volvo, GM, BMW, Stellantis, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz. Satellite analysis links the mines to primary rainforest loss on Indigenous Tolaki land: mining may account for two-thirds of forest loss since 2001 in the Cahaya concession, and its operator SCM was sanctioned for illegally clearing over 450 ha. Public filings do not allow specific shipments to be matched to car batteries. Carmakers cite due diligence but decline to share audit results, while CATL, Huayou, SCM and Tesla did not respond.

Source: adapted from The Guardian, October 2026.