Clean-energy expansion raises concerns about mining abuses

🔦 Navigate COP31 unmissable events with our Insider's Guide

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🗞️ Driving the news: COP31 is advancing the “35-by-35” electrification pledge, aiming to raise electricity’s share of global energy use from 21% to 35% by 2035
• However, environmental and human rights groups warn that the critical minerals boom underpinning the transition risks escalating mining-related abuses unless stronger safeguards are introduced

🔭 The context: Türkiye and Australia have positioned electrification as a central COP31 priority, building on previous commitments to expand renewables, phase down fossil fuels and modernize energy infrastructure
• However, electricity itself is not necessarily renewable under the pledge, leaving room for fossil-fuel-powered generation
• Demand for transition minerals is already increasing, alongside concerns over deforestation, pollution and Indigenous land rights

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Electrification can accelerate decarbonization across transport, buildings and industry, but its environmental benefits depend on how electricity is generated and minerals are sourced
• Without responsible mining, the energy transition risks transferring environmental damage from fossil-fuel production to mineral-producing communities and ecosystems

⏭️ What’s next: More than 120 civil society organizations are calling for binding human rights and environmental due diligence, ecosystem protection and safeguards for Indigenous peoples
• Recycling could also reduce reliance on new mining: the IEA estimates that scaling it up could cut demand for newly mined minerals by 25–40% by 2050
• However, COP31 negotiations currently lack explicit language addressing critical minerals and mining.

💬 One quote: “If mining is going to ramp up without proper protections in place, I think we can probably expect to see some of these problems ramp up as well,” - Emily Iona Stewart of Global Witness

📈 One stat: The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre recorded more than 300 human rights allegations linked to transition mineral mining in 2025, a 73% increase from the previous year

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