I: Introduction
Natural resources such as oil, gas, or minerals are often extracted in regions that are peripheral to the global economy and exported as raw materials to other parts of the world where they are further processed and sold. This is made possible through an international governance of financial and economic policies, such as free trade agreements.
Extractivism is embedded in the logic of the commodification of nature. While the burning of fossil fuels as energy sources is the major cause of global warming, processes of extraction also contribute significantly. A study assessing the total greenhouse gas emissions from the mining sector (considering 65 mineral materials) estimated that it accounted for 15% of GHG emissions in 2020. This estimate excludes the emissions from billions of tons of sand and gravel extraction and the substantial volumes of water extracted.
The extraction and use of fossil fuels as energy sources play a key role in global warming and today’s climate crisis. The EU has approved a set of policy initiatives, called “Green Deal”, wherein it has committed to phasing out the use of fossil energy and becoming “climate-neutral” by 2050. However, the production of both electric cars and solar panels also requires the use of minerals and rare earth elements that need to be imported from abroad. For instance, for the batteries of electric cars, lithium is needed, besides cobalt, graphite, nickel and manganese. Meanwhile, the electronic industry (mobiles, computers, smart devices) is a significant end consumer of tin, cobalt, platinum metals, and other metals and rare earths, such as tantalum, gold, palladium, silver and copper.