Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Mining impacts

A responsible energy transition

Nature Sustainability (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Huge volumes of a diverse range of minerals are required to shift the world to renewable energy. An analysis now shows that many of these are being sourced from the lands of vulnerable people.

The material requirements of the energy transition are far larger than is usually realized. Production of even a common material such as iron must double, copper nearly treble and lithium increase by a factor of five. To find out where these extra resources will be obtained, Owen and colleagues mapped the location of 5,097 mining projects that together cover an area of nearly 60,000 km2 across the world. Of these, 69% are on or near land that qualifies as Indigenous peoples’ or peasant land with nearly 20% qualifying as both. Over three-quarters of known reserves of lithium, manganese, graphite and platinum occur on lands of one or the other group.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Sovacool, B. K. Extract. Industr. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.11.018 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Owen, J. R. et al. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00994-6 (2022).

  3. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) (United Nations General Assembly, 2007); https://en.unesco.org/indigenous-peoples/undrip

  4. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UN Human Rights Council, 2018); https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/1650694

  5. United Nations. Sustainable Development Goal 1. No poverty: end poverty in all its forms everywhere (United Nations, 2022); https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/Goal-01/

  6. Bowman, D. M. J. S. et al. Restor. Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12560 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. COP26 IPLC Forest Tenure Joint Donor Statement (UN Climate Change Conference UK, 2021); https://ukcop26.org/cop26-iplc-forest-tenure-joint-donor-statement/

  8. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Report on the twenty-first session (25 April–6 May 2022). Economic and Social Council Official Records, Supplement No. 23. E/2022/43 (United Nations, 2022).

  9. Garnett, S. T. et al. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0100-6 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

    Stephen T. Garnett

  2. Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

    Kerstin K. Zander

Authors
  1. Stephen T. Garnett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kerstin K. Zander
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Stephen T. Garnett or Kerstin K. Zander.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Garnett, S.T., Zander, K.K. A responsible energy transition. Nat Sustain (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01007-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01007-2

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing