(NewsWorthy.news) – Amos Hochstein, the White House’s senior adviser for energy and investment, has warned that the U.S. and its allies must encourage mining projects in nations where western companies are reluctant to arrange business deals to secure a reliable supply of minerals relied on to fight climate change. The adviser noted that countries such as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have mineral resources vital in meeting the worldwide demand for components relied upon by the green energy industry and its power infrastructure. Hochstein suggested that the reluctance among western countries to conduct business in some African states impedes a transition to green energy.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, which has a population of 89,561,000, has an estimated 407,000 people living in slavery. Amnesty International has noted that mining projects in the country’s Lualaba province have resulted in thousands of people being forcibly evicted from their homes. The secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, argued that the transition to cleaner energy must not be allowed to fuel the further violation of human rights in the DRC, a main source of cobalt which is heavily relied on for the production of electric car batteries.
Though Hochstein’s recommendations suggest that the U.S. would be less reliant on China, which has come under fire for its own human rights abuses and relationship with Russia, the mining industry in the DRC is largely fueled by Chinese investment. In 2023 women and children brought a historic legal case against mining giant Anglo American over cases of lead poisoning. Zambia’s mining industry has also raised similar concerns around slave labor and human rights abuses. Both the DRC and Zambia are major sources of copper, which is also relied on for the production of car batteries and solar panels.
The recommendations along with Biden’s President Joe Biden’s climate change law raise questions about the ethical implications of a rapid shift towards green energy investment. The impact of the increasing reliance on these minerals in energy production does not stop at human rights abuses; both cobalt and lithium mining linked to batteries have also been criticized for their negative impact on the environment. Lithium mining causes considerable pollution to water sources and wreaks devastation upon indigenous people in Chile. Dust from Cobalt mining in Africa has caused breathing problems for communities, and the mining practice has, like the Lithium industry, led to the contamination of water supplies and rivers.
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