SOMO exposes the scale of the global rush for battery minerals and says its impacts can be avoided through a just transport transition
'The big battery boom', 7 March 2023
Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely seen as indispensable to combat the climate emergency. But the rising demand for batteries to power these vehicles threatens to lead us into a transport transition that is devastating for the environment and for the human rights of millions of people due to the massive surge in mining of the minerals needed for batteries...
To reduce...transport emissions, the US, the European Union (EU) and China rely heavily on...electric vehicles (EVs). In doing so, the world’s largest polluters fail to address the root cause of the climate crisis: their unsustainable consumption... Furthermore, they are externalising many negative impacts of the transport transition...
We often hear that the energy transition will require vast amounts of minerals. However, it is important to note that production of EVs accounts for 50% to 60% of such projected mineral demand
... The Transition Minerals Tracker...has documented hundreds of allegations of human rights and environmental abuses related to mining of transition minerals.
While China will continue to be the main producer of Li-ion batteries in the coming years, the US and Europe show the highest growth rate of production capacity...there is a trend toward vertical integration that contributes to the concentration of power within a few corporate players...
In 2021, 94% of all EVs were sold in China, Europe and the US. By 2030, these regions will still represent more than three quarters of the EV market... other regions bear the brunt of the negative impacts...
SOMO
[W]hile governments need to encourage recycling and the circular economy, it is imperative that they also significantly reduce resource consumption as part of the transport and broader energy transition...
The transport transition based on electrification of individually owned vehicles is unjust for a number of reasons and fails to address the much-needed shift away from fossils fuels in a fair and equitable way.
The quest for minerals and metals by the wealthy countries is reinforcing a pre-existing neo-colonial economic framework where some resource-rich countries are pushed to remain as suppliers of raw materials that feed the consumer demands and unsustainable lifestyles of global powers... Companies are able to convert public money into private profit and into creating more shareholder value...
A just energy transition is imperative, but under current policies of the West and China, it is out of reach. This has to change, and change fast.
Central to a just transport transition is having more clean and effective public transport options and fewer and smaller cars on the road...Reducing the number and size of EVs and making significant additional progress on recycling and reuse of materials will not abolish the need for some extraction of minerals completely. Globally there will still be some demand. In order to ensure this does not repeat the decades of abuse associated with the extractive sector, robust and effective corporate human rights and environmental due diligence laws are needed...
The transition offers a key opportunity to move towards a regenerative economy rather than the current extractivist model based on extraction, exploitation and concentration of power and influence with large corporations.