In person icon Governing Critical Raw Materials and the Energy Transition: Challenges for Socio-Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

The global transition to a low-carbon economy has spurred an unprecedented demand for critical raw materials (CRMs), intensifying extraction activities in both the Global North and South. While essential for technologies such as electric vehicles, wind power, and photovoltaic panels, extraction has often exacerbated environmental injustices and human rights violations, particularly in regions of production. At the same time, increasing geopolitical tensions have contributed to more competition between different importing regions to secure access to strategic resources. The European Union (EU) has recently adopted a series of policies aimed at both securing access to CRMs and at the same time demonstrating that extractive activities associated with its supply chains have minimal impacts on human rights and the environment. Consequently, in the emerging geopolitical and regulatory landscape, mineral producers must navigate a complex context of strategic competition for critical minerals and the imperative to extract CRMs sustainably to meet energy transition goals. This panel seeks to advance existing scholarship by offering fresh insights into the complex and often conflicting priorities, geopolitical tensions, and regulatory transformations shaping emerging forms of CRM governance. It will explore the integration of human rights and environmental standards into CRM governance, the contested policymaking processes in the EU, US and China, and the implications of strategic competition and regulatory reforms. Specifically, the panel addresses the following questions: (1) To what extent does the strategic competition for critical minerals shape existing governance mechanisms to elevate environmental and human rights standards? (2) To what extent, and in what ways, are social and environmental safeguards being integrated into the governance of critical raw materials? (3) What political and institutional conditions enable or hinder the sustainable governance of critical raw materials? By addressing these questions, the panel aims to advance understanding of the socio-environmental trade-offs and governance pathways critical to achieving an equitable energy transition.

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