Deregulation and access to raw materials at any price - the answer to current crises?

Brot für die Welt and the Heinrich Böll Foundation invite:

As geopolitical tensions rise, the EU is seeking to reduce its own dependence in strategic areas. These include metallic and mineral raw materials, which are often highly dependent on individual countries, especially China. Not only at the European level, various new strategies and proposals are being developed to secure raw material supplies; the new German government has also emphasised raw material security and battery production in its coalition agreement.

The energy transition is not possible without metallic raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths. Digitalisation, space travel and especially the transport and construction sectors also consume large quantities of these raw materials. In the wake of the global arms race, the debate about the raw materials needed for this is also gaining momentum in Europe. The predicted increase in the consumption of many metallic raw materials is increasing the pressure on mining regions. At the same time, in the context of current debates on competitiveness and the reduction of red tape, there are increasing efforts at European and other levels to deregulate human rights and environmental due diligence obligations. This is a risky development, as the extraction and processing of raw materials is often accompanied by massive environmental damage and human and labour rights violations, while the local population usually benefits little.

• What are the impacts of global competition for lithium in different countries? How do the contexts and demands of those affected by the environmental and social impacts of lithium mining differ?
• How can the 'race to the bottom' in human rights and environmental due diligence be stopped in the current geopolitical context?
• What is needed for equitable commodity partnerships, as emphasised amongst others by the new German government in its coalition agreement? And what is needed for a globally equitable raw materials transition?

We would like to discuss these and other questions with representatives of partner organisations of Brot für die Welt and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, who work in other countries on the environmental and social impacts of the mining of lithium and other metallic raw materials, and with you.

Among others with: 

Pia Marchegiani, Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), Argentinien

Žaklina Živković, Organizacija za političku ekologiju (Polekol), Serbien

Farai Maguwu, Center for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), Simbabwe

Tihomir Dakić (tbc), Center for Environment, Bosnien und Herzegovina

Johanna Sydow, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Facilitation: Leonie Düngefeld, freelance journalist

The event will be held in German and English with simultaneous translation.

Please register via Guestoo. 

Address: Brot für die Welt, Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung e.V.

Caroline-Michaelis-Str.1, Berlin

Info: Annette Kraus, kraus@boell.de