This week, thousands of activists, politicians and scientists have arrived in Brazil for COP30, the annual climate summit. As global temperatures rise, and the world experiences flash flooding, the pressure is on for world leaders in Belém to forge a unified plan to stop the climate crisis.
But while most of COP will rightly focus on the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on global warming, a new issue is emerging that has, as yet, been overlooked: the mining of critical minerals that are key to the green transition.
A decade after the Paris Agreement, the world’s shift away from fossil fuels has triggered a new global race; this time, for the critical minerals that underpin renewable technologies. From electric vehicles to wind turbines, minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium are essential to manufacturing these technologies. But unless mineral extraction is governed in line with climate, environmental and human rights goals, the so-called ‘green’ transition risks deepening inequality, driving deforestation, and undermining the very climate objectives it seeks to achieve.
