🌱 What issues arise in wind energy?
The demand for balsa wood – used in turbine blades – has grown rapidly. This has reportedly led to substandard labor conditions for workers in the Amazon region of Ecuador, including payment in alcohol and/or drugs. The logging has also increased deforestation and negatively impacted the land rights of Indigenous Peoples in Peru.
🌱 What issues arise in solar energy?
The Xinjiang region in the north-west of China is the source of 40-45% of global solar-grade polysilicon. Approximately 2.6 million Uyghur and Kazakh individuals have been subjected to coercion and confinement – as well as “re-education programs” – in this area. Consequently, the US government has designated polysilicon originating from China as a material that is likely to have been produced using forced or child labor.
🌱 What issues arise in transition mining?
The mining of gold and copper in the Amazon has polluted local water and food supplies, and it has added to the ongoing large-scale deforestation in the area. The mining has also increased the conflict between Indigenous Peoples, miners, and the military. Since 2011, on average three people in the Amazon have been killed per week trying to protect their land, according to a Global Witness report from October 2022. A quarter of the deaths were tied to the extractive industries and the mining industry was “directly linked to the most killings”. Notably, most of the individuals killed were Indigenous.
🌱 What issues arise in battery production?
Between 15% and 30% of the global supply of cobalt – needed to produce batteries – originates from the Congo. According to Amnesty International, children – as young as seven – work in artisanal cobalt mines in the Congo. The mining conditions are reportedly dangerous and hazardous, and the children work for low salaries.
🌱 What issues arise related to Indigenous Peoples’ rights?
According to the UN, “Indigenous communities […] help to maintain 80% of the biodiversity left […], and [maintain] some of the world’s most valuable carbon sinks and natural resources.” Yet, over half of the “transition materials [are] located on or near land where Indigenous people live”. Moreover, “85% of […] lithium extraction projects [are] on or near land managed or inhabited by Indigenous people.”
🌱 How can we assure a just transition?
If we want a just transition, civil society, government, local communities, and the private sector must collaborate. We need effective participation of all key stakeholders and solid due diligence by investors and corporate actors. The risks to human rights must be continuously assessed, monitored, and addressed throughout all relevant supply chains. We also need to improve the recycling and reuse of existing minerals.
Read more about the human rights issues linked to renewable technologies here:
- https://gizmodo.com/over-half-the-worlds-energy-transition-minerals-are-on-1849865104
Read about ways to better address the human rights issues here: