Electric vehicles are taking centre stage as a popular alternative to petroleum fuelled vehicles, with a range of types, such as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). During the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the role of EVs was highlighted as essential in reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Transportation accounts for 30% of global GHG emissions. Worldwide, consumers are transitioning towards EVs from petroleum fuelled vehicles and governments are improving the infrastructure in their countries to incentivise more people to make the switch. In 2022, the European Parliament agreed to outlaw all sales of petroleum and diesel vehicles by 2035, with the legislation taking effect in April 2024, positioning the European Union as the world’s third-largest EV market after China and the United States.
Mineral rich countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) play a key role in this global EV transition by supplying the essential minerals required for the production of EV batteries. For example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the world’s largest supplier of cobalt, while several SSA nations such as Zambia, Madagascar, and South Africa hold large reserves of lithium, nickel, graphite, and manganese. As the global shift towards EVs is accelerating, the demand for these minerals is rising. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global cobalt demand reached 215 kt and is expected to nearly double to 454 kt in 2040.
Although EVs produce a smaller carbon footprint than petroleum-fuelled vehicles over their lifespan, their production involves a massive initial carbon footprint from the mining of critical metals and the manufacturing of batteries. Ecosystems are disrupted to make way for mining facilities, with resource extraction displacing wildlife and threatening the survival of entire species. The ‘endangered’ or ‘critically endangered’ great ape population in West Africa, particularly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Guinea are affected by mining operations whereby they are exposed to chemical, light, and noise pollution, and their habitats are destroyed to make way for mines and roads. Additionally, mining activities pollute waterways with waste materials and deplete vital water sources, which are used for mineral separation, ore refining, and machinery cooling. Some countries in SSA such as South Africa and Namibia, where lithium, manganese, vanadium and other critical minerals are mined, are highly water-stressed due to the heavy water demands of mining operations.
The mining of ‘green’ minerals also raises serious human rights concerns. Communities are forcibly displaced where mineral ore reserves are discovered beneath their homes. Birth defects in newborn babies are often linked to parental exposure to toxic chemicals in the mines. In Katanga, DRC, the locals face contamination from heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, and cobalt, often through the consumption of fish from lakes polluted by mining waste. The lack of corporate social responsibility spending of mining companies in mining cities also means that local communities are not well developed. In Kolwezi, DRC, the provincial governor Richard Muyej acknowledges the issue of child labour which persists because there are no schools for children to go to, so instead they work in the mines to extract ores are are by the rivers to clean and separate ores from dirt.
Feedback is a mechanism where part of a system's output is redirected to its input, influencing its behavior based on past actions. A feedback loop can be positive where disturbance is amplified, or negative where they are reduced. Evidently, the demand for ‘green’ minerals creates a positive feedback loop on the mining communities in SSA. In the case of the DRC, increased demand for cobalt fuels the already exploitative mining practices, exacerbating human rights and environmental issues in regions like Kolwezi, home to the Tenke Fungurume mine (TFM), which is largely owned by the Chinese company China Molybdenum (CMOC). This vicious cycle will persist as long as demand for transition metals remains high, unless the root cause of the issue is addressed.
When assessing the issue, all parties involved in the five-stage supply chain dodge addressing the challenges linked with mining. In interviews with the manufacturers of consumer products, such as Tesla and Mercedes-Benz AG, responses to these concerns are often ambiguous or deflected onto upstream suppliers, highlighting a troubling lack of accountability. However, as public awareness grows and questions arise, many companies are taking steps to improve the transparency and credibility of their material sourcing. For instance, some believe that cobalt should be included in the U.S. conflict minerals law, which requires companies to conduct due diligence for the sourcing of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold from conflict-ridden states such as the Central African Republic (CAR), Myanmar, Afghanistan, and the DRC. Enforcing such due diligence is a critical step in tackling the systemic abuses associated with mineral extraction in African countries.
Even though SSA nations possess an abundance of natural resources vital to the transition to EVs, many remain underdeveloped and entrenched in poverty. Among the world’s ten poorest countries, nine are located in SSA, and they are home to the ores essential for EV batteries. This paradox is largely due to the fact that the SSA nations do not enjoy the economic prosperity driven by the surge in demand for EVs. Instead, their mines are predominantly controlled by Chinese or Western companies such as Congo DongFang International Mining (CDM) and Glencore. The raw materials are exported for processing and battery production, with China playing a dominant role in refining and manufacturing, accounting for 75 per cent of the world’s battery production capacity. As Cobus van Staden for Foreign Policy writes, “The entire logic of the battery metals race is to secure national prosperity at home–not in Africa.”
The global transition to EVs highlights the disparities that exist within the global supply chain. While affluent nations enjoy their EVs and reach their goal towards net zero by 2050, SSA nations bear the brunt of environmental damage, broken communities and the continued abuse of human labour to supply the demand for critical minerals.
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