Resourcefulness

The energy transition is causing a steep increase in mining of critical minerals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium and copper, which are essential for renewable energy technologies like electric vehicle batteries and solar panels. However, this transition has also intensified the extractive processes in mineral-rich countries, often resulting in human rights violations, environmental degradation, and the perpetuation of global inequalities.

The Resourcefulness project is looking into ways towards a just energy transition by identifying finance as a critical force. It aims to highlight the role of finance institutions in resource extraction for the energy transition, and how their role (re)produces (un)just outcomes of the energy transition.

image of a mine and machinery

Case studies

Researchers Annemiek Cuppen and Anne-Linn Machielsen are zooming in on cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and copper mines in West Papua as examples of ‘extractivism’. So far, findings show that the financial and material flows related to these minerals remain highly opaque, making it difficult to address the social and environmental injustices that accompany their extraction. The role of financial institutions is important, not only in facilitating these mining activities but also in shaping global supply chains, often without transparency. Companies and financial institutions often avoid disclosing their involvement due to the sensitive nature of human rights and environmental concerns. This poses a significant challenge for ensuring a just and equitable energy transition, particularly for marginalized communities in regions like the DRC and West Papua.

Decoloniality

Cuppen and Machielsen emphasize the importance of incorporating a decolonial perspective into the energy transition. The researchers aim to highlight the structural inequalities perpetuated by current extraction processes and to ensure that communities in resource-rich areas, like Congo and West Papua, have a fairer role in shaping their own futures.

A decolonial perspective became essential during the project because it challenges the structural inequalities that have historically shaped global resource extraction. By applying a decolonial lens, the project seeks to not only address the immediate impacts of mining but also to rethink and develop fairer ways of managing the extraction and distribution of resources.

Art, activism and academia

Engagement with local communities through activism and cultural means, such as collaborating with artists, is an important part of the inter- and transdisciplinary approach of Resourcefulness.

The Resourcefulness team is working towards two academic papers on the just energy transition of the mining industry, a network and connection with communities in the mining areas and the diaspora in the Netherlands, insight in financial structures of the business and a symposium in 2025 to look towards further steps to be taken in this field of research.

    Climate blog: growing hunger for resources

    Team

    • Ezekiel Djeribi Stevens

    Non-UU partners