In remote parts of Myanmar, hundreds of holes gouged into the clay earth of hillsides mark the problematic origins of some materials driving the clean-energy transition.
The country's northern region borders China, which controls a large portion of the supply chain for critical minerals. The nonprofit environmental and human rights watchdog group Global Witness has documented the spread of unregulated mining in Myanmar, source of heavy rare-earth elements, or HREE, used in the magnets that go into crucial clean technology such as electric vehicles and wind turbines.
"In the course of the last two years, these mining operations have expanded at a rate that we could not have anticipated," Ben Ayre, head of data investigations at Global Witness, said during a press briefing organized by a coalition called SIRGE, which stands for Securing Indigenous Peoples' Rights in the Green Economy.
The groups in the coalition represent Indigenous people affected by the mining for critical minerals and rare-earth elements used in clean technology. They hope to raise the profile of the issue as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) convenes a forum on responsible mineral supply chains.
Ayre said the HREE sourced from Myanmar are found in the clay, and the mining and crude chemical processing leave marks visible from satellite imagery.
"That is extracted by pumping chemicals into the ground, leaching those elements out into pools, and those pools are very visible," he said. They are also very dangerous. Nearby villagers the group spoke with reported fish kills in streams, animals that died after drinking tainted water and injuries to workers.
"It's an extremely toxic chemical and the reports that we have from community members of damage to skin and to internal organs are consistent with findings, scientific studies, into the effect of these chemicals on people," Ayre said.
Global Witness estimated from satellite imagery that unregulated mining in the north of Myanmar has spread 40 percent since the group last investigated the area in 2021. China's imports of HREE oxides from Myanmar more than doubled over the past two years, the group found, and large quantities of the chemicals used in extraction flowed the other direction.
"The volume of those elements that Myanmar represents is now so great that the burden of proof is really on any manufacturer producing those products to demonstrate that they are not implicated in that supply chain," he said.
On the other side of the world, in southeastern Brazil's Minas Gerais state, the mineral-rich valley along the Jequitinhonha River has become a hotspot for mining lithium, a mineral critical for the development of batteries used in most EVs.
"Communities are experiencing lack of water, scarcity of water," Indigenous activist and writer Edson Krenak with the group Cultural Survival said during the briefing. "Rivers are drying out, the fish they used to eat are not anymore available."
The region has a long history of mining, and Brazil has legal protections in place for communities and the environment. However, Krenak said, the safeguards on paper aren't always put into practice on the ground.
"The communities are experiencing more and more problems because, in spite of the strong framework to protect them, the local government—they are partnering with companies to extract more and more lithium for the world's demand," he said.
A report released last week by the International Energy Agency found that while prices for lithium have come down in the past two years, that "masks the risks of future supply strains" as demand for lithium and other critical minerals continues to grow with the burgeoning clean-energy sector.
The IEA report found that the projects announced so far are sufficient to supply only about half of the lithium needed over the next decade if all countries worldwide meet their national climate goals. Cobalt, rare-earth elements and nickel are vulnerable to geopolitical risks, the IEA warned.
The report's authors recommend stepping up efforts to recover and recycle minerals from used electronics. But even with that, the IEA said, some $800 billion in additional mining investment will be required between now and 2040, raising the likelihood of more mining on sensitive environments and Indigenous lands.
"Simultaneously increasing both the volume and speed of mining means that some places will face unprecedented pressure if we're to mine more minerals for the energy transition," University of Queensland, Australia, professor Deanna Kemp said in the SIRGE briefing.
Kemp directs the university's Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, which has done research mapping the remarkable overlap of critical mineral reserves and places important for Indigenous people and other "land-connected" people.
By the center's calculations, more than half of the minerals important for the energy transition are on or near Indigenous lands, including 85 percent of lithium reserves. The study also found that reserves of graphite and manganese, two other minerals commonly used in batteries, are frequently on or near Indigenous lands.
Mining projects that the center analyzed are also disproportionately associated with high levels of food and water insecurity, and roughly a quarter of the mining projects on Indigenous lands are within about 30 miles of a recent violent conflict.
"It's easy to see, I think, if these issues are not better acknowledged and addressed, then mining for the energy transition will face opposition and drive conflict," Kemp concluded. "And conflict is not good for business."
Some efforts underway aim to improve standards for sourcing critical minerals and diversify the places providing them.
In the U.S., President Joe Biden's administration has offered incentives for companies to increase domestic critical mineral supplies and recently announced tough tariffs on the imports of some clean technology products from China.
During the United Nations COP 28 climate talks in Dubai in December, the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe introduced a framework to identify environmental and social aspects of critical minerals and a set of principles for sustainable extraction.
Sustainability advocates said the OECD forum could build on approaches like that one to improve transparency and accountability in mineral supply chains.
SIRGE Coalition Executive Director Galina Angarova said her group is not opposed to the energy transition—after all, many Indigenous people face serious threats from climate change. Rather, she said, her hope is that the OECD forum can help to move the mining industry toward a conflict-free supply chain and greater respect for the rights of Indigenous people whose lands will likely supply critical minerals.
"If we continue down the current path," Angarova said, "we risk building the destruction of nature, biodiversity and human rights into the green transition."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
