Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-04-07
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Margaux Maurel, PhD candidate in international affairs specializing in the economic, social, and environmental impacts of infrastructure and energy projects in Global South countries and transnational activism. Researcher affiliated with CERIUM, HEC Montréal
Electric cars, wind turbines, solar panels:energy transitionpromises a decarbonized future. But behind these so-called “green” technologies lies a reality often made invisible: a massive intensification of mining extraction, concentrated in certain territories and carrying new political, ecological, and geopolitical tensions.
The energy transition as currently conceived does not break with the extractivism of fossil fuels: it shifts, intensifies, and reconfigures it. This concept was coined by researchers from Latin America to think about the natural resource industries.
The Uruguayan biologist Eduardo Gudynas defines extractivism as a system both oriented towards export – at least half of what is extracted is sent abroad – and massive extraction, with significant impacts on ecosystems and local communities. Extractivism thus results in a relationship of control and domination over the land.
Four major paradoxes structure the energy transition and remain largely hidden in public debates: its intensity in metals, its intensity in energy and surface area, the neo-colonial and imperialist character, and the myth of the responsible mine.
As a doctoral student in international affairs at HEC Montréal and a research affiliate at CÉRIUM, my work focuses on the multiple resistances to critical mineral extractivism in the context of the global energy transition.
Also to read:
The energy transition requires a lot of minerals and metals. This could have an impact on our lakes
The intensity in metals
Themineral intensityof the energy transition is colossal: electrification and renewable energies will lead to an increase in demand for critical metals that could reach 500% by 2050, according to theWorld Bank.
As an example, it takes six times moremetalsnecessary to produce an electric vehicle than for a conventional vehicle. The needs of the American electric vehicle market alone in 2050 would requirethree times the quantity of lithiumcurrently produced for the entire global market.
The intensity in energy and surface
The mining industry is responsible for 8% of global direct carbon emissions. This figure rises to28%if indirect emissions are taken into account. It also consumes 12% of the world’s energy.
The historian of scienceJean-Baptiste Fressozreminds inWithout transition: A new story of energythat “after two centuries of ‘energy transitions,’ humanity has never burned as much oil and gas, as much coal, and even as much wood.”
If the history of energy is often presented as one of transition, of phases, from wood to coal, up to renewable energies, the world has actually experiencedenergy symbiosesAt: the different forms of energy have accumulated, without replacing each other. TheIndiahas never consumed so much coal.
From 2020 to 2022, global use of mining lands nearly doubled (+77%). The industry is responsible for 7% of worldwide deforestation, with forests affected within a radius of 50 to 100 km around each mining project. This expansion mainly took place in Russia, Venezuela, Indonesia, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and Ghana. For example, in less than a century, the forest cover of the Philippines has decreased by 83% due to mining and forestry exploitation.
The French philosopherCélia Izoardalso invites us to consider the “phantom hectares,” that is to say underground use.
The neocolonial and imperialist nature
For Ecuadorian economist Alberto Acosta, extractivism is a mode of accumulation that began more than 500 years ago with colonization. He denounces mechanisms of plundering and appropriation, and traces a continuity between colonial and neocolonial exploitation that fits within the economic relations between the periphery and the center (North/South). Indeed, the13 metalsof the transition are concentrated in 21 countries, all Global South countries. 69% are located on Indigenous lands, reproducing systemic injustices.
NGOs from Global South countries denounce the very concept ofcriticality, which classifies certain minerals as strategic and essential for the energy transition. According to them, this notion is used to justify increased extraction, reinforcing a “green extractivism” that intensifies the asymmetries between Global South countries, which are depleted of their resources, and Global North countries where these resources are consumed.
Already thousands of subscribers to the newsletter ofThe Conversation. And you? Subscribe to our freenewsletterto better understand the major contemporary issues.
The myth of the responsible mine
Despite new labels such as “responsible mining”, “climate smart mining”, most of theprocessesof metal extraction and processing dates back to the late 19th centuryeCentury. New technologies are mainly used to reduce the costs of the exploratory phase, from which companies derive no profit. Célia Izoard notably denounces the myth of zero-emission mines that would operate on renewable energies as well as the amount of unavoidable waste.
Moreover, according to the International Energy Agency, water withdrawals by the mining industry doubled between 2018 and 2021, whiletwo thirdsIndustrial mines are located in regions threatened by drought.
These mines also present risks that are too seldom mentioned, such asfailures of mining dams. In 2019, in Brazil, thebreach of a damfrom an iron mine in Brumadinho made270 deathsand 12 million m3Tons of mining waste are dumped into watercourses. There are between29,000 and 35,000mining dams on the planet, the risk of rupture being increased by climate change.
Theabandoned minesalso pose social, ecological, and economic problems. AtUnited States, the 500,000abandoned minescost the state billions of dollars each year.
Mining companies boast certifications and medals, but if you dig deeper, theResponsible Minerals Initiativedoes not conduct any audits on mining sites. They only send independent observers for 3 specific factors: corruption, child labor, and the financing of armed conflicts. TheAlliance for Fair Cobaltis an organization funded by mining companies and client companies. In the same way, theInitiative for Transparency in Extractive Industriesis based solely on reports voluntarily provided by mining companies.
Towards mineral sobriety?
To respond to these paradoxes, the French philosopher Célia Izoard proposes the concept of “mineral degrowth.” Beyond the carbon footprint, there should, for example, be a metal footprint for companies and administrations. She invites us to rethink theovermineralizationof our daily lives – computers, smartphones, connected watches – and to reflect on the way our consumption choices contribute to the intensification of extractivism.
Beyond our individual choices, it is indeed systems that must be fundamentally rethought to avoid reproducing colonial and imperialist logics that degrade ecosystems and endanger vulnerable communities. A genuine just energy transition will therefore not happen without a profound transformation of our economies and our relationships.
Margaux Maurel does not work for, advise, hold shares in, receive funds from any organization that could benefit from this article, and has declared no affiliation other than her research institution.
–ref. Paradoxes of the global energy transition: between green ambitions and intensive mineral extraction –https://theconversation.com/paradoxes-of-the-global-energy-transition-between-green-ambitions-and-intensive-mineral-extraction-264432