Beyond Mineral Alliances: Tackling Global Power Imbalances, Colonial Legacies, and Community Rights for a Just Energy Transition
Original framing: “Live from LCAW – Raw diplomacy: Can new mineral alliances deliver a just energy transition?” — Climate Home News
Life‑cycle assessments reveal that mining of critical minerals can emit more CO₂ than the renewable technologies they enable, unless coupled with rigorous recycling and low‑carbon processing. Geoscientific mapping, coupled with climate modelling, can identify hotspots where extraction would exacerbate biodiversity loss. Robust scientific baselines are needed to set planetary boundaries for mineral production.
The promise of new mineral alliances masks a continuity of extractive power that reproduces colonial hierarchies, marginalises Indigenous and community voices, and risks deepening climate footprints unless re‑engineered through inclusive governance, fair‑trade certification, and circular‑economy innovation.
Historical precedents show that without binding community participation, resource booms become cycles of dispossession; scientific life‑cycle data now quantifies those risks, while artistic‑spiritual narratives mobilise public conscience. Cross‑cultural wisdom from Africa, Asia, and the Americas offers alternative stewardship models that can be embedded in future‑oriented scenario planning. By aligning the interests of corporations, states, and grassroots actors through transparent, reparative frameworks, the energy transition can become genuinely just rather than a new form of mineral colonialism.