Major mining companies involved in the global rush for transition minerals to power the clean energy transition are linked to a surge in human rights abuses, environmental harm and community conflict, according to new analysis by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.

In the last year, companies including Glencore, Grupo México, Codelco, Georgian American Alloys, China MinMetals, Sinomine Resource Group and South32 are among those linked to a record 156 allegations of human rights abuse involving mining for minerals such as nickel, lithium and zinc - essential for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and wind turbines.

There are now 834 alleged abuses against workers, Indigenous Peoples (IPs), local communities and ecosystems logged in the Resource Centre’s Transition Minerals Tracker since 2010.

South America remains the region with the highest recorded number of allegations of corporate abuse, but the number in Europe and Central Asia grew 50% in the past year.

The growing legal risks to mining companies that fail to respect human and environmental rights are highlighted by the 40 lawsuits recorded in the Tracker, including seven from 2024 alone - a clear sign communities are increasingly turning to the courts to seek accountability for rights violations.

Despite the widespread allegations, less than half of companies involved have a human rights policy in place meaning they are missing the opportunity to create a just energy transition built on corporate duty of care for human rights, fair negotiations and shared prosperity.

This will not only rid their projects and supply chains of abuse but also build sustainable business models that are attractive to workers and investors alike.

Key headline findings from our new research include:

• The top three types of mines most frequently linked to abuses since 2010 are: copper (44% of cases); copper-cobalt (12%); zinc (10%).
• Indigenous Peoples continue to be disproportionately harmed with 18 new cases of abuse involving IPs last year and 77 across all years.
• Projects in Peru and Chile account for almost one in five allegations in 2024.
• Just five mining companies from USA, Mexico, Chile and China were responsible for almost 25% of all reported abuses in 2024.
• Close to 1 in 3 allegations relates to workers’ rights, including hazardous working conditions that led to 10 deaths in 2024.
• Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in the mining sector make up 20% of the Tracker’s total allegations of abuse.
• Less than half of firms linked to allegations have a publicly available human rights policy in place.

The Resource Centre calls on policymakers, business leaders and investors to urgently embed human rights protections into the transition mineral supply chain in order to ensure a fast energy transition that strengthens public trust and is built on a corporate duty of care for the rights of communities and workers, fair negotiations and a commitment to shared prosperity.

Caroline Avan, Head of Just Energy Transition and Natural Resources at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre said: “The urgency of the energy transition is real. But it cannot be used to justify an unchecked scramble for transition minerals. This is driving widespread human rights abuse, environmental destruction and growing community conflict which slows the transition.

“A transition built on exploitative supply chains of minerals is not simply unjust – it is unstable, unpredictable, and ultimately unsustainable – and this should deeply concern investors, governments and downstream users of minerals in the renewable energy space.

“If companies and States continue to pursue minerals recklessly, they risk undermining the very future they claim to support. We urgently need a reset. One that seeks to curb global demand through mineral recycling and delivers shared prosperity in the necessary mining.

"In doing so, this will embed human rights at the centre of the clean energy economy, builds trust and shared prosperity with affected communities and protects the environment on which we all depend. The path to net zero cannot be paved with more injustice and global inequity. A just transition will be one that is fast but also fair.”

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For more information or to arrange an interview please contact: Anil Dawar, media officer, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, +44 (0) 7766 317 434, [email protected]

Note to editors:
The Transition Minerals Tracker covers eight of the key minerals needed across the most dominant technologies underpinning renewable energy, electric vehicles (EVs) and electrification.
These are: Bauxite, Cobalt, Copper, Lithium, Manganese, Nickel, Zinc and Iron ore.
Iron ore was added to the Transition Minerals Tracker this year even though it is not listed as a critical mineral for either the EU or the USA.
Its inclusion is due to its widespread use across different technologies in the energy transition and the documented negative human rights and environmental impacts of its extraction.

The Tracker does not purport to provide comprehensive information on all allegations of abuses against all mining companies Full Tracker Methodology is available on the Resource Centre website. Analysis presented in this briefing and the accompanying dataset reflects information available at the time of publication (May 2025).

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is an international NGO that tracks the human rights impacts of companies across the globe.
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/