The extraction of critical minerals in the energy transition is an ominous race to the bottom. It is a dichotomous tragedy. On one end it represents natural resource depletion in a new wave of extractivism searching for critical minerals to power the global green energy transition.
On the other hand, the perpetuation of a global economic status quo of Global South impoverishment through exploitative business and trade practices.
The result is a deepening endemic poverty. As African nations heave out their natural wealth, plundered by a complex global network of corporate systems, their people are left with externalized costs further impoverished.
In this modern-day scramble for Africa, a newfangled ferocious competitor is vanquishing traditional Western imperial forces. A growing Chinese appetite for the Global South’s abundant natural resources, from cobalt nickel to lithium has risen to the fore.
Bloomberg’s Electric Vehicle Outlook 2024 report tracks China’s growing global market share of natural resource imports as expected to reach 25% by 2025, up from 15% in 2020, driven by growing demand for electric vehicle batteries, renewable energy, and other technologies.
China’s investments in Africa’s mining sector reached $10.3 billion in 2020, up from $2.5 billion in 2015, according to the African Development Bank. China has provided over $20 billion in resource-backed loans to countries in the Global South, including Angola, to secure access to natural resources.
This is buoyed by capital investment under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a massive infrastructure development project, that has invested over $100 billion in natural resource extraction and infrastructure development in the Global South since 2013.
These select statistics demonstrate the growing Chinese appetite for the Global South’s natural resources and the increasing importance of China as a player in the global natural resource market.
Such minerals are critical in transitioning from fossil fuel-powered industries to environmentally friendly or green energy technologies. It is a transition that is precariously lopsided against Global South producer countries, where mineral resources are extracted for a song.
The lack of resource rents or robust benefit sharing schemes is further highlighted by climate change impacts that continue to ravage less economically developed countries that are primary producers of raw materials.
When climate-induced disasters strike, like the ElNino induced hunger or the vicious Cyclone Idai, Global South countries fail to find resources to provide safety nets- and are quick to extend a begging bowl.
Inversely climate change affects the continent disproportionately, with its populace vulnerable to the impacts of the global catastrophe, triggered by greenhouse gas emissions produced by the Global North behemoth industrial complex.
Over the years, Africa’s critical minerals have been caught up in geopolitics, with industrialized nations competing for access, often with nothing to little benefits accruing to African countries. This also resulted in these resources contributing to protracted violent conflicts which left millions of people dead and millions more displaced.
Putting people at the center of all clean energy transitions not only improves people’s lives but is also key to successfully implementing energy and climate policies, which are transformative and sustainable.
Key to this is local energy communities that empower citizens, when such initiatives are developed, they are an effective means of maximizing socio-economic empowerment. As they depend on trust, both within and outside the community, these systems involve and educate people who would otherwise be excluded in clean energy transitions.
At a time when critical minerals extraction is resulting in land grabbing, water grabbing, and violation of cultural, social, and economic rights of communities, it is imperative to drive transformative change. Offsetting negative impacts associated with extractive industries on the continent in the energy transition can be achieved by extending benefits to local communities.
As the continent is captured under a new wave of extractivism and the depletion of natural resources which is not compensated for by other investments, sustainability must be central to mining operations.
Such investments are necessary to offset the negative impacts of resource extraction, promote inclusive development, and ensure that communities are placed at the centre of the energy transition.
Increased investment in some areas can lead to new revenue streams, jobs, and spending on community projects, but it also poses risks to traditional livelihoods and the environment.
Local energy value chains help ensure the sustainability and longevity of projects while also demonstrating the value of enhancing citizen engagement in localised clean energy transitions. Under such a system community members assume roles in the development, installation, maintenance, operation, and ownership of the energy system.
However, there is growing consensus that the speed and scale of the energy transition are intensifying the urgency of strengthening governance in the energy and mining sectors so that the world achieves its decarbonization goals in a manner that respects the rights of communities.
There is a strengthening of community voices and engagement in decision-making related to the energy transition. Respecting the priorities and needs of communities is essential to ensuring well-informed, inclusive, and accountable decision-making on the energy transition.
Legal systems should adapt to secure the social interests of vulnerable communities susceptible to wide-ranging manipulation by governments and corporations alike. The Weekly’s coverage of the carbon credits scam in Mozambique is a case in point on how corporations collude with the government to take advantage of communities.
It is beyond doubt that communities need to engage in the energy transition’s impacts. Ensuring communities are provided with relevant information they can access, understand, and use is an essential starting point for their participation in meaningful dialogue.
With the energy transition influencing government and company decision-making, communities must be given a seat at the table. Enabling communities to engage and participate in multi-stakeholder dialogue provides a pathway to an inclusive, accountable, and just transition that leaves no one behind.