I am committed to ensuring research is cognisant of, and helps address, inequities and justice issues - Rasmus Kløcker Larsen

Rasmus Kløcker Larsen is Senior Research Fellow and Team Lead for the Rights and Equity Team at the Stockholm Environment Institute. In the Mistra Mineral Governance programme, he is leading work package three, which explores critical raw material goal conflicts not simply as arising from opposing material interests of local actors, but as reflective of normative tensions between value systems of global significance.

In this article, he highlights what research him and his colleagues will explore in the programme, and what motivates him as a researcher.

Rasmus Kløcker Larsen is Senior Research Fellow and Team Lead for the Rights and Equity Team at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

What are you going to explore in your work package?

Our work package focuses on goal conflicts in the governance of critical raw materials, drawing primarily on a diversity of social science approaches. We have three main activities, namely, to contribute to identifying where and how goal conflicts arise between different groups, to propose some principles for how to address these goal conflicts, and specifically how emerging mandatory rules on environmental and human rights due diligence can be more effectively implemented.

How would you like your research to be used?

The hope is for our research to help decision makers infuse justice considerations into critical raw material governance. To date, geopolitical and economic goals dominate the agenda, in Sweden, the EU and internationally. Policies are rolled out to fast-track extraction with little recognition of the need to protect rights and interests of affected social groups. Our research is intended to help demonstrate such gaps and propose mechanisms for more just raw materials policy.

Who can gain from your results?

Our results should be relevant for most decision makers and organizations concerned with raw materials policy. One focus will be on synthesizing available knowledge and communicating this to Swedish and European policy makers. I also hope supply chain actors can find useful recommendations and that some of our studies will be helpful references for civil society organizations in their negotiations with industry and government.

Why is this field of research important?

Many of the justice issues that we now see in the governance of critical raw materials are, in fact, not new – they reflect structural inequities salient to our societies since time immemorial. Much research already exists that we can draw on. Yet, the pace of political and economic change is tremendous, posing new challenges that require new knowledge. Taken together, this line of research is needed to help suggest ways for the climate transition, with associated materials demand, to enhance rather than limit rights protection and democratic legitimacy.

What drives you as a researcher?

Some of the most rewarding moments in my research is when I have the privilege to meet people from different cultures, backgrounds, and life situations – learning about the richness of perspectives on their places, the environment and how we can organize more sustainable societies. Unfortunately, some people and perspectives tend to be valued less, with government policy and market structures routinely discriminating against local communities and Indigenous Peoples and their legitimate claims to influence decisions and have their rights recognized. Like many of my colleagues, I am motivated by a commitment to ensure that research is cognizant of, and helps address, such inequities and justice issues.