Extractive Industries – a global view of the human and environmental costs
Source: European Commission
Mineral extraction
Mineral extraction plays a dominant role in the economies of 63 countries. Demand for clean energy is expected to rise by at least four times by 2040 to meet climate commitments.
“…mining-intensive consumption by the wealthy”
�How green is the �green transition?��How just is the just transition?��
Critical minerals (also known as transition minerals) and rare earth minerals are essential to modern technology and the green energy transition.
These materials, such as lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements, are used in everything from electric vehicle batteries to wind turbines. Rare earths are used in the magnets that turn the engines of electric vehicles.
As the world increases the number of renewables, demand for these minerals is skyrocketing.
Critical minerals for energy transition
Critical minerals for energy transition
The human rights crisis at the heart of critical mineral extraction
“The race for critical minerals is already exacerbating human rights abuses, deepening inequality, and fuelling global unrest. Rather than enabling a fair and just transition for communities and countries, it is reinforcing long-standing patterns of exploitation.”
Source: Centre for Economic and Social Rights
The human rights crisis at the heart of critical mineral extraction
Child labour in artisanal cobalt mining has been extensively documented by the African Development Bank.
Women account for just 10% to 13% of the global industrial mining workforce, yet in some cobalt-producing areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they represent up to 40% of artisanal and small-scale miners. Women have typically been concentrated in lower-paid, hazardous activities such as washing and sorting ore, frequently without protective equipment
The extraction process destroys forests and biodiversity, while hazardous chemical runoff ruins soil quality and pollutes water sources, making farmland barren and reducing agricultural productivity.
Source: Centre for Economic and Social Rights
The way forward…
As the world looks ahead to COP31 in Antalya in November 2026, a roadmap for the Just Transition Mechanism - a key tool to ensure that the transition towards a climate-neutral economy happens in a fair way, leaving no one behind - is becoming increasingly urgent.
By August 2027, the EU Batteries regulation (EUBR) will come into effect. This law seeks not only to ensure ethical mining techniques but also to reduce demand for mining by more effectively recycling the raw materials.
The way forward…
“The earth has limits… do we?”
Lorna Gold, Earth Day 2026