Despite its long-term goals of achieving a circular economy and reducing resource use, the European Green Deal is pushing mining to meet the demand for clean energy, renewable energy and other advanced technology solutions, which can be to the detriment of workers, local communities and nature, warns the NGO CEE Bankwatch Network in a report published on Thursday 28 January.
The European Commission has presented extensive plans to ensure access to ICT raw materials, but makes little mention of how to effectively manage the risks associated with their extraction, the NGO regrets. The EU estimates that electric vehicle batteries and energy storage would require up to 18 times more lithium and five times more cobalt in 2030 and almost 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt in 2050, the report points out.
It describes cases of environmental destruction, poor working conditions and insufficient public participation in the planning and implementation of metal mining and smelting operations, often supported by funds from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.
Examples include gold mined in Bulgaria, which contains levels of arsenic banned in the EU and is shipped to Namibia to be smelted, to the detriment of workers’ health.
In order to overcome these pitfalls, the NGO recommends: - the reduction of resource use as the underlying principle for any new publicly financed project; - the use of less-exploitative and toxic-safe technologies; - restoration of old mining sites; - strict and efficient environmental, social and human rights due diligence for mining projects; - the right for communities affected by the mines and surrounding facilities to have a say.
See the report: https://bit.ly/39nZNS6 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)