- Nearly 100 Indigenous representatives agreed on a first-ever document to define what a just energy transition is from an Indigenous perspective, with eleven principles to make the transition fair and equitable.
- Another report highlights approaches for fair co-ownership models and negotiations between Indigenous communities and corporations in instances where communities agree to projects on their lands.
- To meet renewable energy goals, there will need to be an increase in mining for critical minerals that power renewable energy technologies, many of which are on Indigenous lands, say analysts.
- A researcher has proposed additional solutions to meet the growing demand while respecting the principles around a just energy transition, including a framework to track mineral needs and which mines truly serve climate purposes.
Despite the 2024 U.N. climate conference, or COP29, concluding on a mixed note, attendees pushed forward greater ambitions to accelerate the clean energy transition. While the summit called on world leaders to commit even more actional measures to meet the U.N. renewable energy target, Indigenous leaders remained staunch that the process must be just, fair and equitable.
“This document defining the just energy transition and Indigenous peoples’ principles for a just transition is a first in history,” said Galina Angarova, executive director of the SIRGE Coalition, a global coalition led by a committee of Indigenous representatives that helped organize the Indigenous summit. “It will be used as a guide by Indigenous peoples’ rights advocates for years to come.”
The people who signed this document include leaders part of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP), a formal body with the U.N. system. The LCIPP presented this document in front of some governments at COP29.
The U.N. climate target calls for tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. Although the world’s massive surge in renewable energy is falling short of the goal, it’s still within reach, according to the International Energy Association (IEA). To meet the goal, the demand for critical minerals and metals is growing.
This worries human rights advocates who say that more than only critical minerals are needed to fuel the process. The rush towards an energy transition should require respecting the ecosystems that communities depend on, respecting Indigenous rights, and a fair partnership between mining companies and communities if there are critical minerals on their lands, they told Mongabay.
The final document from the Geneva summit came with 11 principles and commitments for actions required for a fair and equitable transition. This ranges from the respect of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, to decolonization, to commitments to achieve the Paris agreement’s 1.5 degree target.
“That’s what we’re demanding as Indigenous Peoples so that our rights are respected at the full spectrum of human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights, just as prescribed by the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” said Angarova.
At its footsteps, another report, this time published by Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) and the Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI), highlights approaches for fair co-ownership models and negotiations between Indigenous communities and corporations. The authors say this will ensure benefit-sharing between the two in the cases where communities are willing to have mines or energy projects on their lands.
The report also underlines principles and policies companies should adopt that are in line with international human rights to prevent land rights violations, conflicts, violence and environmental destruction.
Alancay Morales Garro, lead on business and human rights at IPRI, said that given the crucial role Indigenous lands have in energy transition, it is important to work together with communities using a rights-based approach.
“We’re all in the same boat and the climate crisis is affecting us all differently,” said Garro. “Whatever is done should generate shared prosperity to break the extractive approach of just exploiting Indigenous lands. They should rather work together with Indigenous peoples and third parties, be it government or private utilities or businesses in general.”
To meet the equitable outcome, he said a “one-size-fits-all approach” across all regions of the world will not work given that Indigenous communities have differing challenges, resources and value systems.
“For instance, a community may not have access to the technical expertise around a certain project and these gaps resonate differently among other communities which need to be recognized,” he said.
Trying to avoid a supply issue
To mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis, climate scientists say there needs to be an increase in renewable energy projects and, therefore, the supply of critical minerals.
While some in the mining sector say this may require reduced mining regulations to meet these goals, Danielle Martin, director of social performance at the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), said she disagrees that this should come at the expense of Indigenous rights. While the energy transition is essential for addressing climate change and contributing to a sustainable future, she said, Indigenous rights should not be affected “at any cost.”
In August, the ICMM, an organization that represents a third of the global metals and mining industry, updated its position statement with evolving expectations from rightsholders.
“Respect for rights, meaningful engagement, and the establishment of agreements between Indigenous peoples and mining operations will help enable an energy transition that is fair and equitable,” Martin told Mongabay.
In the absence of robust regulations that safeguard the rights and self-determination of Indigenous peoples, many Indigenous advocates say they are much more susceptible to harm, rights violations, displacements and killings driven by the corporate interests of diverse mining companies.
Angarova, of the SIRGE Coalition, said she cautions against views that renewable energy technologies or mining are a silver bullet to the climate crisis. “Other mitigation methods, like reducing energy consumption, minerals’ reuse and recycling, proper urban planning, investment into research and development of new battery chemistries, and other energy sources are also solutions,” she said.
Trying to fast-track critical mineral mining projects without stringent laws, regulations and partnerships not only creates an unjust energy transition, but can also create environmental issues down the line, Angarova told Mongabay. Goals for renewable energy and a just transition can go “hand in hand,” she said.
“It’s not a dichotomy. The transition has to be done in a way that upholds justice and equity for Indigenous Peoples,” she added.
In Chile’s Salar de Atacama region, lithium mining activities have consumed 65% of the region’s water leaving local farmers and communities severely water-deprived. The lithium extraction process is water-intensive — it requires approximately 1.9 million liters (500,000 gallons) of water per metric ton of lithium that is used to make batteries for EVs and other electronic devices.
“It just doesn’t make sense that we’re using that water to produce lithium for individual electric cars while communities are competing for a supply of drinking water,” Angarova said.
To enable national and global coordination to avoid critical mineral supply crises and resource conflicts when communities won’t allow mines, Julie Michelle Klinger, assistant professor at University of Delaware, has proposed a framework. This would allow governments to define their domestic energy transition mineral needs, sources and contribution to the global energy transition.
Klinger said the framework intends to significantly reduce pressure to open new mines, especially those on Indigenous and peasant lands. Emphasizing that the areas stewarded by Indigenous and rural peoples are crucial for climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation, she said the framework proposes incorporating such lands into a climate assets inventory.
“Like any other asset, climate assets need to be protected. Therefore, decisions on where to put a mine or heavy industry operation need to be evaluated in terms of whether they threaten a climate asset,” Klinger told Mongabay.
Because there are no existing mechanisms to ensure that material mined in the name of energy transition actually serves those purposes, the framework also proposes the development of a Climate Designation Assurance for energy transition mineral industries. For instance, a lithium battery may end up in a vape pen, greeting card or assault rifle instead of an EV bus, said Klinger. “Therefore, communities and regulators need to know whether or not a mine or industrial site that they are asked to accommodate serves climate-critical purposes.”
The framework emphasizes the importance of extracting ETM from so-called “above-ground reserves,” which Klinger said reduces the need for new mines, thereby decreasing extractive pressure on climate-critical landscapes and livelihoods while also helping to clean up waste from former mining operations, e-waste dumps and legacy industrial sites by reprocessing it for ETM. With the right combination of investments, she said ETM could be gained from such sites much faster compared to the long start-up time for new mining operations.
“In regard to protecting Indigenous and land-connected peoples, the public designation of ETM Site could be a mechanism where potential host communities could vote on whether they want to host a mine, refinery or energy generation site,” said Klinger.
Banner image: Cobalt ore mined in DRC. Trying to fast-track critical mineral mining projects without stringent laws, regulations and partnerships not only creates an unjust energy transition, but can also create environmental issues down the line. Image by Fairphone via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Photos: The lives and forests bound to Indonesia’s nickel dreams
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