Ore containing copper, cobalt and nickel at the Andover mine in Western Australia. Photo: Paul-Alain Hunt, Unsplash.
The transition to a low-carbon economy and the expansion of key technologies enabling it – electric vehicles, wind power and solar panels – has created a race for critical raw materials among industrialized countries. Intensified extraction in both higher and lower income countries carries significant implications for environmental and human rights protection. Finding the right governance tools to balance competing goals and demands is key to ensure sustainability.
Critical raw materials are used in advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, military, defense systems, and most importantly, clean energy technologies. As global demand for critical raw materials grow, increased extraction is leading to conflicting goals across different areas of policy and levels of government and often contributes to exacerbated environmental injustices and climate vulnerability in sites of extraction.
The seminar is hosted by the EPPLE group at Stockholm University, Stockholm Environment Institute, GRIP-ARM ERC-project, and the Mistra Mineral Governance programme. In collaboration with the Nordic Latin American Institute.
Where: The Nordic Latin American Institute, Universitetsvägen 10B, Stockholm University.
Directions: take the red metro line towards Mörby Centrum and alight at the “Universitetet” stop.
When: 3rd October, 14.00 - 16.30
What to expect
Leading critical raw materials governance researchers with expertise on Asia, Europe and Latin America will present their latest research focusing on:
The current state of governance for critical raw materials
To what extent and in what ways human rights and environmental standards are being integrated into the governance of critical raw materials
Bottom-up and alternative governance solutions for handling trade-offs between extraction and sustainability
Challenges and opportunities in political and institutional conditions to enhance sustainable governance of critical raw materials
Speakers
Susan Park, Professor of Global Governance, University of Sydney, Australia
Erika Weinthal, Professor in Environmental Governance, Duke University
Hyeyoon Park, Lecturer in International Politics, University of Stirling
Scott Odell, Program Scientist MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative