Chinese solar companies are among 175 around the world that signed a nonbinding pledge by a U.S. trade group to avoid forced labor. It will be much harder for them to actually cut ties with Xinjiang, the western China region facing increasing scrutiny for human rights abuses.
The pledge from the Solar Energy Industries Association in the U.S. doesn’t specifically mention Xinjiang. The region in Western China plays a dominant role in the global solar supply chain, and it's also become the center of widespread accusations that President Xi Jinping’s government is systematically oppressing Muslim Uyghurs. An accompanying press release, however, calls on the pledge’s signatories to quit the territory over evidence of forced labor.
The move sheds light on a dirty secret of the solar industry: It relies on Xinjiang and its cheap coal power to produce half of its key raw material. And with demand for panels set to explode as the U.S. and China commit to more clean power, it will be even harder for the industry to quit the troubled region.