TREAD LIGHTLY

The report examines the social and environmental risks associated with the surge in demand for transition minerals like nickel, lithium, and cobalt. It criticizes current IFI approaches, such as the World Bank's 'climate-smart mining,' for treating environmental and social governance (ESG) as commercial risks rather than human rights imperatives. Through case studies in Indonesia, Guinea, Argentina, and the DRC, the document illustrates harms including forced evictions, water scarcity, and corruption. It proposes solutions centered on reducing mineral demand through circular economy models, implementing binding due diligence, and supporting mineral sovereignty for resource-rich countries in the Global South.

• The rapid expansion of renewable energy technologies is driving a 'green extractivism' where Global South countries are treated as 'environmental and social sacrifice zone[s]' to support energy consumption in the Global North.
• International Finance Institutions (IFIs) often view environmental and social governance (ESG) measures primarily as commercial risks to be managed or as tools for private companies to access funding and 'ethical' markets.
• In Indonesia, the IFC's 'Green Equity Approach' contains a loophole allowing support for captive coal power plants used in mining and smelters, contributing to significant emissions and local pollution on Obi Island.
• Bauxite mining in Guinea, supported by an IFC debt facility of up to $200m for the CBG mine, has led to the acquisition of hundreds of square miles of farmland with little to no compensation for villagers.
• Lithium extraction in Argentina's Catamarca region is described as 'mega-mining of water' due to its high water footprint, leading to salt flats drying up and the salination of fresh water sources.
• The IFC's 2007 investment in Africo Resources Limited in the DRC ended in a corruption scandal involving a bribery scheme; the IFC divested in 2009 and failed to publicly denounce the scandal or debar the involved companies.
• A significant portion of transition mineral extraction overlaps with Indigenous lands: 54% of all projects, 85% of lithium reserves, 75% of manganese, and 57% of nickel reserves.
• Research by WWF suggests that the demand for transition minerals could be reduced by 58% by 2050 through the implementation of circular economy models, innovative technologies, and recycling.
• Mineral sovereignty is advocated for African countries to move beyond being raw material providers and instead develop domestic processing and manufacturing to drive green industrialisation.

APA

Doig, A. (2023). TREAD LIGHTLY. Trend Asia. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tread-lightly-1.pdf

Chicago

Doig, Alison. TREAD LIGHTLY. Trend Asia, 2023. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tread-lightly-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Doig |first1=Alison |title=TREAD LIGHTLY |publisher=Trend Asia |date=November 2023 |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tread-lightly-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{doig2023tread, author = {Doig, Alison}, title = {{TREAD LIGHTLY}}, institution = {Trend Asia}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tread-lightly-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }