Third-party auditing won’t solve US solar industry’s Xinjiang problem

Payne Institute Fellow Cullen Hendrix writes about how the US solar industry is justifiably concerned about the US government’s hardening stance on China’s human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (henceforth Xinjiang), a key supplier of polysilicon used for making the photovoltaic cells used in solar panels. In response, the industry is looking to third-party auditing and verification as a way of ensuring its supply chains aren’t tainted by forced labor. Unfortunately, this approach is unlikely to be effective in China’s repressive media and information environment.  June 25, 2021.