Critical minerals and the green energy transition - full transcript
Host [00:00] You’re listening to Make Change Happen, a podcast from IIED. In this episode Eric Bisil from IIED's law, economies and justice programme and his guests discuss the role of critical minerals in speeding up the fossil fuel phase-out and how they can support the productivity and economic growth of countries where they are found.
Eric Bisil [00:26] Welcome to this new episode of IIED’s make change happen podcast. Great to be having a conversation on this topic. Welcome Emanuel.
Emmanuel Umpula [00:36] Thank you so much Eric for having me here. My name is Emanuel Umpula and I'm the executive director of African Resource Watch, a Congolese-based human rights organisation.
Eric Bisil [00:26] We'll be also hearing later from Ketakandriana Rafitoson from Publish What You Pay and Rose Mosi and Ben Garside from IIED. They’ve been kind enough to send us their perspectives separately.
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Eric Bisil [1:08] Critical minerals are in the global spotlight. They’re drawing attention because of their huge potential to support the green energy pathway and the push away from fossil fuels. And demand for these minerals is booming.
So in this podcast we’re going to be talking about the many opportunities that critical minerals present for the green transition. But we’re also going to be talking about some of the challenges of extracting critical minerals that people perhaps aren’t aware of, for example the impact that extracting critical minerals can have on ecosystems and communities.
But before we get that discussion going, I would like to say that the term critical minerals is often used to refer to minerals to such as cobalt, lithium and copper – minerals which are used for green energy technologies such as electrical vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines. In fact, the correct term is critical energy transition minerals – as the name suggests, these minerals support the green energy transition.
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Eric Bisil [2:35] It is important to say that countries are all motivated by the need to phase out from fossil fuels, many responsible for the global warming the world is facing. It was during the Paris climate conference that many countries decided to move away from fossil fuels. This determination was subsequently reiterated at various climate conferences after the one in Paris in 2015. With the decision to shift from fossil fuel to green energy demand for transition minerals has started to boom despite urgency to fight against global warming and the need to phase out from fossil fuels. Voices are being raised today about the many dilemmas that accompany the exploitation of transitional minerals and the need for a just energy transition. Dilemmas are many and complex. We are not going to try to address all of them today. But we’ll have a chance to talk about a few of them.
To this end I would like to introduce the executive director of Publish What You Pay. Mrs Ketakandriana Rafitoson who will be sharing with us one of the manifestations of this dilemma in her country Madagascar.
Ketakandriana Rafitoson [3:55] In Madagascar we only have two big mining sites. The first one is located in Mandena in Southeast Madagascar and is operated by QMM, the local subsidiary of Rio Tinto. They are extracting ilmenite, a major source of titanium dioxide. Research conducted by the national coalition of Publish What You Pay showed that local communities experience a consistent loss of livelihood in terms of fish depletion and lack of access to local forests which were the main sources of revenues for local populations. Some other scientific research accounts for suspicion of water pollution which may have some effects on people's health. Along those lines, grievances related to land loss compensated in an opaque process tainted with power asymmetry generates constant conflicts and divisions among communities.
The government is not playing its role, environmental regulation is not independent, and we do suspect that some local authorities are misappropriating some of the tax and royalties paid by the company, implying some additional losses to communities. It’s a really dark picture. The second mine is operated by Ambatovy in eastern Madagascar. They extract and refine nickel and cobalt. A recent investigation by the Malina NGO gave evidence of grievances related to land loss and insecurity among the community. For both cases it appears that a lack of community consultations, a lack of information and also a lack of consideration for communities’ needs are at the core heart of those issues. A better respect of ESG standards should also be operated urgently.
Eric Bisil [5:40] Emmanuel, I don't know about you but when Ketakandriana was highlighting the environmental and social impacts associated with the exploitation of transitional minerals I was asking myself if we can say that this is an isolated case? Can we say that Madagascar is an isolated case?
Emmanuel Umpula [6:04] This is certainly not an isolated case. This situation described by Ketakandriana is particularly the same in my country, DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo]. With the exploitation of copper, lithium, cobalt and other minerals, mining has already had a negative impact on environment, with the destruction of forests, pollution of water, and so on. Unfortunately, today the exportation of transition minerals is accompanied by the same negative impact. Another important point to be mentioned here is the fact that the development of critical minerals mining project often comes with displacements of communities, Indigenous Peoples’ communities, without their free and prior consent. And without equitable and appropriate compensation.
Eric Bisil [7:19] After listening to you Emmanuel, we understand that the need to ensure that energy transition is fair for countries where the extraction of critical minerals is taking place. In my opinion, this fairness should not only be about respecting best environmental and social practices during the extraction of the minerals. A just transition should also be one that enables countries rich in critical minerals to capture sufficient added value to generate more incomes and jobs at the local level.
This time I would like to invite us to listen to Mrs Rose Mosi, a senior researcher at IIED. We will address another dilemma that countries rich in critical minerals in the global South are facing.
Rose Mosi [8:04] The dilemma of critical minerals is seen in the dichotomy between the benefits that critical minerals bring to the energy transition and the risks of mining critical minerals for the producing countries. Now, critical minerals are essential for developing green energy technologies that are essential for the energy transition. Critical minerals like lithium, cobalt and copper amongst others, are usually mined by a small number of countries, often in the global south. Many of these countries are looking to use the critical mineral boom to improve the economic outlook of their countries. According to the international energy agency the mining of critical minerals is likely to increase due to a rise in demand for clean energy technologies.
Now, mining is not devoid of risks. There are governance, social and environmental risks that come with mining. In order for countries to benefit from critical minerals they need to have a proper plan and governance system in place. Otherwise these countries will likely fall into what is referred to as a “resource scarce”, meaning they are less likely to see economic growth, they are likely to have poor democracy, less likely to see development and of course have fewer natural resources as some of it will have been taken out in the form of critical minerals.
Secondly, mining has negative environmental, social and health impacts. Environmental impacts come due to the invasive mining methods, social impacts are seen in the livelihoods of the communities that live around the mine or are displaced to make way for the mine. And health impacts are seen in the communities as well due to the exposure to dust, heavy metals amongst other elements that can cause health challenges.
Thirdly, these countries too need to transition and therefore there is a need to have a plan for producing countries to use some of their minerals for the energy transition or for their own energy transition.
Emmanuel Umpula [10:22] In DRC I think what Rose has just described is a fight we have here in DRC for instance where the mining exploitation is not adding value locally, so we are just exporting the raw materials. So this is not giving enough profit for the country where those minerals are mined so when we talk about energy transition, we need to think about that. First we need to think about the negative impacts on communities as we described before but also sharing profit and sharing profit means we need to have a plan where we see how we add value to those minerals from the country where those minerals are located to where the consumers are but also we need to create a local market. In Kolvezi for instance, the world’s is mineral capital and when we talk about energy transition no one will understand what you are talking about.
Eric Bisil [11:28] Emmanuel, thank you for highlighting the fact that critical minerals should be considered also as an opportunities for countries for producing countries, I think it's very important to clearly say that critical mineral exploitation not only comes with problems. They are in fact, also bringing opportunities for producing countries and Emmanuel I'm curious to hear from you what DRC is doing, or is trying to do, to capture more added value at the country level. I know that there is this MOU with Zambia for the creation of a production unit for lithium battery. Can you tell me more about this production unit for lithium batteries?
Emmanuel Umpula [12:14] Yes, after the work coming from civil society asking for how we can add value locally. So Congolese government is trying to sign MOUs with other countries like Zambia, US [United States], and at the end of last year with the EU [European Union], how can them have a unity where they can add a value. To add value means we need to produce some not batteries to reach the stage of producing batteries but to reach the stage where we can produce a precursor of batteries because now the way we are mining those minerals it means that we are just exporting raw materials so, you know, raw materials do not give enough money for the country and do not contribute enough to the local economy.
Eric Bisil [13:14] Yes, I think it's very important to say that to see also critical minerals as an opportunities and producing countries such as DRC should definitely try to put in place strategies that will allow them to capture more benefit from the exploitation, create more jobs at a local level and it's really great to see that DRC and Zambia, Angola are trying to correct the myth from the past and try to move forward.
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Eric Bisil [13:50] We have talked about the issues related to exploitation. We have seen that critical minerals are also opportunities for the world in its fight against the global warming. Having said that, if you don't mind Emmanuel, I would like us to talk about a way forward that for various reasons little attention has been paid to so far. I'm talking here about the circular economy. In fact the circular economy is a model of production and consumption which helps to reduce the pressure on natural resources by focusing on the rational and sustainable use of product derived from the processing of natural resources.
To be clear I'm not saying that the circular economy is the absolute solution, not at all. But I'm just drawing attention to a model that will allow us to break with some of our consumption habits that are the root of the pressure on nature which induced the global warming. I want to make it very clear that a circular economy might be a solution as well as critical minerals can be a potential solution to fight against global warming. But as with critical minerals exploitation, the circular economy also comes with its own challenges such as the issue of recycling and on that point I would like us to hear from Ben Garside, the head of the energy team at IIED on that issue.
Ben Garside [15:27] There’s a strong potential for greater recycling of some of the minerals we’re talking about. But we need to take a more holistic approach to understanding the overall impacts of the uses – the downstream uses of them - from a carbon footprint perspective as well as looking in more depth at the shared benefits that might be able to be realised as part of a just transition.
Let me give you an example, taking e-waste, electronic waste, which is still very unregulated across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Batteries that of course contain cobalt and lithium are a central part of most electronics. And much e-waste is dumped in African countries, in landfill, or it’s melted down in the informal sector to recover the metals and the minerals with huge health and environmental dangers. Ghana for example has had e-waste dumping from the US and Europe for decades. And there’s also now a rapidly growing domestic supply of e-waste.
Some of the countries have made good progress on improving the policies around e-waste – Kenya for example, has had an e-waste strategy since 2019 and a formal act of parliament came in 2021. But the same year there were only six licensed e-waste recyclers, leaving a big backlog for those who want to recycle responsibly. And quite likely still a huge volume of e-waste dumping and processing within the informal sector. And we shouldn’t really vilify the dynamism of the informal sector and the value added for some of the poorest.
We looked at some of the e-waste value chains in India some years ago. Waste pickers and brokers source waste for both immediate reuse, the lowest carbon footprint reusing the tablets, the phones as well as dismantling to source some of the components for refurbishment which, where it’s possible, can be more lucrative than the dirty backyard meltdown to recover the source materials that I mentioned. And this dynamism and level of inclusivity can be lost by simply privatising waste, issuing large companies’ licenses. And policies that do this are often, as I mentioned, quite hard to police across many African countries.
So what we really need to do is better understand some of these nuances, identifying barriers, opportunities of including some of the poorest in these processes of reuse, recycling. And in ways that incentivise responsible behaviour along the length of the value chain, and by customers, as part of building more sustainable and inclusive circular economies.
Eric Bisil [18:27] So there’s some observations from IIED’s Ben Garside on circularity and the recycling of transition minerals. Clearly there’s a lot of potential in more recycling of minerals. But at the same time, more work is needed. Emmanuel, what’s your take?
Emmanuel Umpula [18:49] In the global South and especially in DRC we are behind in putting in place recycling or reuse of batteries measures, so we are behind and we need to develop those policies to recycle minerals, that’s one. Two, we need to subsidise consumers and producers both enough because of the idea of recycling if we need to have a circular economy. And the third one is of course those measures will have some negative impact on the country like DRC where the economy is related to mining.
But if for the interest of saving the planet we should do that and we need to do. This needs for DRC for instance to diversify its economy that really allow to put in place those measures in terms of recycling for instance and allocated license to companies which need to have those licenses in DRC.
Eric Bisil [20:08] Thank you so much Emmanuel. We are coming to the end of this podcast and for each episode of IIIED’s Make Change Happen podcast we finish with on the same question. So, what is the one big change you want to see Emmanuel? In one word or a few words, what is your big thing?
Emmanuel Umpula [20:30] I think one big change is if we can be able to define what just energy transition means for everyone. And Eric, what is your one big thing in terms of change?
Eric Bisil [30:45] Thank you Emmanuel. Before answering your question I really like the fact that you want the just energy transition to be defined but you also add one relevant point: just energy transition for everyone. I think this is where the difference should be done. This is where the accent should be put: just energy transition for everyone and I totally agree with you on that.
From my side I really want the world to explore a shift from linear to circular economy - not saying that this should be the absolute solution. But at least we should give it a try.
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Eric Bisil [21:31] So, that’s it for this episode. Thanks for listening! It’s been great to have this conversation around the opportunities presented by critical minerals and also some of the challenges. Thanks to Emmanuel Umpula from AfreWatch for joining me and thanks again to Ketakandriana Rafitoson from Publish What You Pay and to Rose Mosi and Ben Garside from IIED.
IIED will continue to explore different perspectives around critical minerals in the coming months. To find out more, visit our website, iied.org.
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Host [22:11] And you can find out more about today’s podcast, our guests and their work at iied.org/podcast where you can also listen to more episodes. You can leave us feedback or follow the podcasts at soundcloud.com/theiied, that’s soundcloud.com/theiied.
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