Today 17 Civil Society Organisations including ABColombia call for the forthcoming UK Government’s strategy and increasing number of international agreements covering critical minerals to contain strong protections for human rights, workers rights and the environment.
Critical minerals are firmly on the UK political agenda. These minerals – including cobalt, nickel and lithium – are used in an ever-widening range of technologies, including electric vehicles, wind turbines and weapons systems. Ensuring access to critical minerals is emerging as a key priority the vast majority of which are mined overseas, by large multinational corporations (MNC), the majority of these MNC have very poor track records when it comes to human rights, workers rights and the environment.
UK urged not to exploit poor countries in rush for critical minerals
It is essential to ensure that the UK has just and responsible policies when to transition to clean energy. The briefing, published today, argues that the UK must adopt an approach to critical minerals based on demand reduction, corporate accountability, and respect for human rights and environmental limits.
The earth’s resources are finite, and rather than seeking to extend new frontiers of unsustainable extraction, the UK should show global leadership in pioneering an approach to critical minerals which is informed by collaboration rather than competition, and promotes demand reduction, economic and supply chain justice and corporate responsibility.
Recommendations to the UK:
Legislate to pass a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act, creating a legal requirement for UK companies, financial institutions and the public sector to prevent human rights abuses and environmental harm in their operations, subsidiaries and value chains