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Indonesia: Huge Nickel Project Driving Climate, Rights, Environmental Harms
A multi-billion-dollar nickel industrial complex in North Maluku, Indonesia, and its associated nickel mining operations are violating the rights of local communities, causing deforestation, pollution, and emitting greenhouse gases, according to a report by Climate…
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Blood on the Green Deal.
This report the Observatoire des Multinationales in Paris and Corporate Europe Observatory in Brussel criticizes the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) for being influenced by industries unrelated to the energy transition, like defense and…
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IndustriALL affiliate Los Mineros has been on strike at a US subsidiary mine
22 August, 2023 – For two months, a total of 2,000 workers from IndustriALL affiliate Los Mineros have been on strike at the Peñasquito mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico. Operations at the country’s largest gold…
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Between a mineral and a hard place Indonesia’s export ban on raw minerals
This TNI article examines the challenges faced by resource-rich countries like Indonesia, which possess crucial raw materials for low-carbon technologies. It highlights the delicate balancing act between capital accumulation, social legitimacy, and trade policies, especially in the…
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The dirty practices of a Zug-based mining group in Borneo
The increased extraction of nickel in Indonesia, essential for electric batteries, presents a paradoxical situation where the country’s carbon footprint rises due to the reliance on coal-fired smelters for industrial processes, despite being strategically positioned…
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Lithium: towards a necessary sufficiency
NégaWatt, an organization focused on sustainable energy, has released a report about lithium, a crucial element for making Li-ion batteries. The report emphasizes the importance of electric vehicles in fighting climate change. However, it warns that if…
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Workers at DRC’s industrial cobalt mines pushed further into poverty
“Around the world, companies engaged in the energy transition seem to be making record profits, while the Congolese workers who are bringing cobalt to global markets are falling further into poverty. The switch to clean…
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Indonesian farmers fight for their land in nickel mining boom
Indonesian farmers on Wawonii Island are using machetes to protect their land against nickel miners, this article reports. The global demand for metals used in electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel has led to a rush by…
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Electric vehicles are a good thing – but not if everybody owns one
As the EU prepares to formally approve a new regulation to improve the sustainability of batteries used in electric vehicles, SOMO has published a powerful set of data visualisations showing the huge planned increase in…