'Injustices and Extractivism': Africa Advocates for Fair Extraction of Minerals Used in Clean Energy

African officials are advocating for tighter regulations on the extraction of minerals and metals required for the shift to clean energy, citing concerns about the "injustices and extractivism" of fossil fuel operations.

A resolution for structural reforms to enhance the fair distribution of benefits from extraction, supported by a group primarily composed of African nations such as Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Chad, was introduced at the UN environmental assembly in Nairobi on Wednesday. The proposal emphasized the need for sustainable use of transitional minerals.

“This resolution is crucial for African countries, the environment and the future of our population,” Jean Marie Bope, a delegate from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which supported the resolution, was quoted as saying by the media.

As the world moves away from fossil fuels, the demand for transitional minerals and metals needed to build solar power plants, wind farms, and electric vehicles, has been increasing. The UN Environment Programme estimates that billions of tonnes of transitional minerals would be needed in the next 30 years to meet climate targets. And Africa has significant deposits of these key minerals.

Opinion

Most of Global North's Waste Goes to Africa, Says Pollution Eradication Startup CEO

13 February, 15:19

African leaders continued by saying that the demand creates an opportunity for mineral-rich African countries that has been so far untapped. The vital transitional minerals are difficult to process in many of the continent's nations, so the raw materials are often shipped and processed elsewhere.

“Our experience of exporting them raw has shown us that there is no benefit for the continent in that,” said Bope, as cited by the reports. “Africa’s minerals are enough to power the clean energy transition, but we don’t want to do things how we have done them in the past.”

Some mineral-producing African countries have restricted exports of raw minerals to boost domestic processing, as they seek to capitalize on the economic growth and employment creation of the green minerals race. So, the leaders emphasized the importance of agreements that facilitate technological transfer, enhance local processing capacity, and improve labor skills for a fair transition.

Furthermore, the environmentalists backed the calls for benefit sharing. They supported the global shift to low-carbon technologies, but warned that the clean energy transition could exacerbate inequality in Africa's fossil fuel industry.

“We need to make sure that industrialization happens here and that we’re not just serving another continent’s industrialization plan,” reportedly said Seble Samuel, head of Africa campaigns and advocacy at the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative. “We cannot afford to replicate the same injustices and extractivism that’s happened with the fossil fuel economy.”

UNEP executive director Inger Andersen also urged governments and industry to employ sustainably sourced minerals in their clean energy transitions, and called on mineral-rich countries to enter into contractual arrangements that would safeguard them from “colonial models” of resource and labor abuse.

Lastly, the states supporting the resolution urged the UN to enhance scientific understanding of new practices like deep sea mining — the process of extracting essential minerals from the ocean floor — which environmentalists believe could pose a threat to marine ecosystems.

“The marine ecosystem is very sensitive, so it’s extremely important to scrutinize this while it’s still in the experimental phase, and understand its impacts,” Bope concluded.

It is worth noting that, according to the UN data*, the continent has the world's largest natural reserves of uranium, platinum, diamonds, and cobalt, among many others:

World's Natural Reserves	% In Africa *
Minerals	30%
Natural gas	8%
Oil	12%
Chromium and Platinum	90%
Gold	40%

These minerals are necessary to shift to clean energy systems. However, the "increased demand presents environmental, economic, geopolitical, and trade consequences for Africa," according to the UN report.