‘Devastating’ rush for critical minerals has little to do with green energy: Report

A new report from the Oakland Institute finds that the surge in mining for critical minerals — nickel up 187%, rare earths up 329%, lithium up 1,602% since 2000 — is driven mostly by defense, aerospace, conventional transport, AI data centers and construction, not renewable energy, which accounts for roughly a fifth of demand.

The report highlights Africa, home to 30% of known mineral reserves, where producing countries process less than 15% of output domestically while local communities bear the environmental costs. In Zambia, copper mines consume over half the country's electricity while only 43% of households have grid access; in the DRC, mining consumes over 60% of generated power while less than a fifth of the population is connected.

Oakland Institute policy director Frederic Mousseau said the extraction has already caused land destruction, water contamination, and displaced livelihoods, and warned that projected expansion will deepen the damage without necessarily benefiting the people living on the land being mined.

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