Dirty Underside of Green Transition

Last month when the global leaders were busy in deliberating on various aspects of carbon emission and negotiating on the quantum of climate finance required to mitigate global warming at the 30th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (CoP30) held in Brazil 2025, a few alarming reports have flagged that a wide array of non-carbon pollutants and environmental threats demand urgent focus to protect human health and ecosystems.

In November, Indian newspapers reported that a very high level of uranium had been found in the breast milk of women in six districts of Bihar, indicating a significant threat to infants’ health. The samples tested had uranium concentrations of up to 5.25 micrograms per litre (µg / L), and significant contamination was noted in every sample. There is no permissible limit or benchmark specified for uranium concentration in breast milk. Last year, scientists discovered lead in breast milk samples and found arsenic some years earlier.

As winter has set in, the air has been toxic in Delhi for over a month now, with the air quality index (AQI) showing a reading of over 400, which means “hazardous”. Lately, a few citizens sat in protest in front of the India Gate with placards: “We can’t breathe”, “Stop poisoning us”. An analysis of air quality by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed that the level of fine pollutants has shown no improvement since 2022, indicating that pollution control measures being implemented by government agencies have not been effective. “What’s more worrying is the daily synchronised rise of PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5, which are microscopic particles in the air with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or smaller) and other toxic gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO), creating a toxic cocktail that has gone unnoticed”. Recent studies have identified severe air pollution hotspots and air sheds in cities and districts across Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Rajasthan, and West Bengal.

On November 20, Malaysia suspended operations at a rare earth site and two tin mines in western Perak state following an investigation into complaints that a stretch of Perak River, the second-longest on the Malaysian peninsula, had turned bright blue. Greenpeace called for an investigation to determine what had caused a river in Malaysia near rare earths and tin mines to turn bright blue.

Rising demand for ‘critical minerals’ for the manufacture of new technology, considered ‘green and sustainable’, is creating a new form of climate colonialism in the 21st century, as mining of these minerals is highly polluting. Commenting on the hazardous mining of cobalt and copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Amnesty International observed: ‘Decarbonising the global economy is leading to further human rights violations’. China has emerged as a major player and also a major polluter in the global critical mineral market. The vital transition from fossil fuels into renewable energy is being captured by super-rich polluters – individuals, companies and countries – reproducing colonial patterns that are entrenching inequalities and fuelling human rights violations, says Oxfam’s new report “Unjust Transition: Reclaiming the Energy Future from Climate Colonialism”, published in September 2025. Although Global South countries hold roughly 70 per cent of transition minerals reserves, the majority of the investments in renewable energy are concentrated in the Global North (50 per cent) and China (29 per cent) – with those profits largely falling into the hands of the richest 1 per cent.

Critical minerals are those non-fuel resources that are essential to countries’ economies or development. Critical minerals include copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements. These are used widely in clean energy technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels, EV batteries and motors, as well as in energy transmission infrastructure like power lines. Additional minerals important for the energy transition include aluminium, manganese, silicon and silver, among others.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that if governments are to meet their announced energy and climate pledges, critical mineral demand could more than double from 2022 levels by 2030 and quadruple by 2050. Extraction and processing of critical minerals are highly concentrated. For example, in 2023, Indonesia held 42 per cent of global nickel reserves and 54 per cent of global nickel production, while the Democratic Republic of Congo held 55 per cent of global cobalt reserves and 74 per cent of global cobalt production. Once mined, the majority of these minerals are shipped to China for processing before they can be applied in end uses. China processes more than half of the world’s lithium, two-thirds of its cobalt, one-third of its nickel and nearly all rare earth elements.

Rare earth elements are a subset of critical minerals that includes 17 elements used extensively in clean energy systems and other advanced technologies. These are critical in electric vehicles, renewable energy, military applications and high-tech industries. Rare earth production is also on the rise. In 2024, production jumped to 3,90,000 metric tons worldwide – a threefold rise from 1,32,000 metric tons in 2017. China is the world’s largest producer of rare earths. In 2024, 70 per cent of US rare earths imports originated from China. While the United States is the second-largest producer of rare earths, it trails China significantly. The largest rare earth mining company in the world is China Northern Rare Earth High-Tech, which owns the prolific Bayan Obo rare earth mining complex in Inner Mongolia.

A steep rise in the global demand for critical minerals is driving the toxic pollution of some of Asia’s most important rivers, like the Mekong, a thriving ecosystem that meanders through six countries, threatening the health and livelihoods of tens of millions of people living along the Mekong and its tributaries. Those who drink, bathe and fish in the waters every day get exposed to deadly toxins from hundreds of unregulated mines in the region, many of which are located in war-torn, lawless areas of Myanmar. Stimson Center has mapped out on a “massive scale” more than 2,400 sites, many of them unregulated mines across mainland Southeast Asia, that could be releasing dangerous pollutants such as cyanide, mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals directly into the region’s rivers.

Copper and cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo has devastated the ecosystem and compelled the poor miners to work in slave-like conditions. The same story is repeated in other mining hubs of Asia, Africa and Latin America. As in the previous centuries, climate colonialism continues in the name of ‘green technology and sustainable development’.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a professor of Business Administration who primarily writes on political economy, global trade, and sustainable development