As the demand for electric vehicles rises in the global North, large-scale mining operations are expanding rapidly, particularly in the global South. The processes to extract minerals like graphite and cobalt are no different from past mining of coal, copper or gold, with the same harmful social and environmental impacts, including pollution, dispossession of land, loss of livelihoods and cultures, criminalisation and silencing of local activists’ concerns. The impacts, especially the cumulative impacts, of these losses are seldom taken as seriously as they should be by the mining industry and its financiers. There is no replacement for lost livelihood options for most communities living around the extraction sites, as the mining industry rarely offers broad employment opportunities for local people. Likewise, there is no replacement for their cultures, as their lives are tightly intertwined with their lands and forests. The ‘local benefits’ the industry points to are often a reality for only a small number of business people and the few who gain employment.

While it is necessary to make significant and immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions before 2025 to prevent further catastrophic climate disruptions, it is crucial to expose and address the often-hidden impacts of the proposed transport decarbonisation in, amongst others, Europe, North America, and China to avoid reproducing the belief that some communities are expendable for the well-being of the wealthy elsewhere.

The Resource Centre invited Syrah Resources, Tirupati Graphite, Advanced Metallurgical Group (AMG) , Triton Minerals and to comment on the study findings. Syrah Resources and Tirupati Graphite responded to the invitation.