Powering the Green Future, Plundering the Global South: A Human Rights Critique of Critical Mineral Extractivism

Abstract: The energy transition towards renewables, touted as the "most important environmental project the world has ever undertaken," relies on a burgeoning mining frontier. The metals and minerals used to produce solar panels, wind farms and electric vehicles are largely extracted from the Global South, where mining continues colonial legacies of dispossession, environmental and human rights abuses. This study explores the ethical and legal implications of the "just transition" and asserts that the current regime of green capitalism displaces its social and ecological impacts onto indigenous communities, peasants and ecologically vulnerable areas in Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia. The research employs the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to assess the adequacy of international and domestic legal frameworks to address corporate human rights due diligence, free prior and informed consent (FPIC) and access to remedy in the critical minerals supply chain. This research employs a doctrinal-cum-empirical approach on three fronts. First, a doctrinal analysis of international instruments, the UNGPs, ILO Convention 169, OECD Due Diligence Guidance, and the EU Critical Raw Materials Act - provides an overview of the regulatory framework for extractive industries. Second, a comparative case study (secondary empirical data) analysis is undertaken in three jurisdictions: Democratic Republic of Congo (cobalt); Chile and Bolivia (lithium triangle); and India (bauxite and rare earths). Third, a content analysis of corporate sustainability reporting, NGO reports (Amnesty International, Global Witness, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre) and court decisions is conducted. There are no field visits; the analysis is based on triangulated secondary data and indicators from the Resource Governance Index and EJAtlas. The paper suggests that the green transition risks creating a new "green colonialism", and calls for a binding international treaty, human rights due diligence and the recognition of extractive sacrifice zones as places of transition justice. Keywords: Critical Minerals, Just Transition, Business and Human Rights, Green Colonialism, UNGPs, Extractivism.