Posco Chemical and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt will form a joint social fund to assist those living near their plants, the companies said.
The two companies will each contribute US$20,000 annually. The funds will be used at each other’s countries every other year, they said.
The first funding will go into installing wells in a town of some 79 households at an island near Posco’s anode factory at Gwangyang.
Next year’s funding will be used by Huayou to help local residents at Zhejiang in employment boosting projects.
Posco and Huayou have been collaborating in anode materials and precursors for batteries and the latest joint fund is part of their effort to cement that partnership further with sustainability projects.
Posco gets precursors from Huayou that it uses to make anode materials. The two companies formed a joint venture in China back in 2018.
Huayou is the world’s largest cobalt producer.