EU tightens workplace cobalt exposure limits amid industry warnings of job losses

The European Union is set to impose stricter workplace exposure limits for cobalt, a move industry leaders warn could push production out of Europe entirely.

Under the new rules, the permissible exposure limit for cobalt in workplace air will be set at 10 micrograms per cubic metre, down from the current Finnish standard of 20 micrograms. The European Council and Parliament reached agreement on the measures around Midsummer, aiming to protect workers from risks including cancer and asthma.

Finnish cobalt refiners Jervois Finland and Umicore, both based in Kokkola—the EU’s cobalt production hub—have strongly opposed the changes. Jervois Finland CEO Sami Kallioinen dismissed the rules as impractical, suggesting they would make cobalt use “impossible” in Europe.

The industry’s representative body, the Cobalt Institute, estimates the stricter limits could threaten 110,000 jobs across Europe and force the closure of more than 1,500 production sites.

Finnish MEP Li Andersson, who chairs the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, defended the proposal, noting it was agreed upon with input from both workers’ and employers’ representatives. She also highlighted significant disparities in current national protections, with some EU countries having no cobalt exposure limits at all.

Research professor Tiina Santonen of Finland’s Institute of Occupational Health expressed surprise at the intensity of opposition in Finland, calling the new limit “not particularly low.” The original proposal had sought a tenfold reduction from current levels.

Companies will have two years to transpose the directive into national law, followed by a six-year transition period to comply with the new exposure limits. Negotiators also included provisions on the use of protective equipment to help employers meet the standards.

The cobalt industry has long relied on animal testing to assess health risks, but the EU has dismissed decades of corporate data in favour of stricter limits.