by Ella Skybenko, Eastern Europe/Central Asia Senior Researcher and Representative and Johannes Blankenbach, EU/Western Europe Senior Researcher and Representative, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

As world leaders convene for COP30, action to curb deadly climate change is still too slow across the globe, including in fast-warming Europe and Central Asia. Apart from political backsliding and fossil fuel lock-in, human rights and environmental abuse in transition minerals mining and renewable mega-projects risks stalling urgent progress towards zero carbon. The European Union (EU), as a bloc the world’s fourth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, has achieved initial success in renewable energy roll-out, propelled by its (unfulfilled) pledge to phase out oil and gas from Russia – itself fifth-largest emitter – after its invasion of Ukraine. Much-needed progress on renewable energy deployment, however, should always be grounded in respect for human rights as a fast transition can only be achieved if it is a fair one.

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is central to this vision and constituted landmark progress when it formally entered into force last year, only to face reopening along with other key Green Deal laws in an ‘Omnibus’ deregulatory wave. Fossil fuel companies have reportedly been among the most active lobbying against this file, which, like no other in the EU, ensures both key protections and long-term economic viability. Final ‘Omnibus’ negotiations need to preserve the essence of the directive, including pathways to justice, effective climate transition plans, meaningful engagement with rightsholders including defenders, as well as the risk-based approach that is vital for prioritising salient risks in (e.g. energy and transition minerals) supply chains.

Growing demand for critical raw materials for clean energy is driving new extraction both within the EU and abroad, including in non-EU Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), which for its own energy production remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels. The EU has advanced its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) to secure critical minerals and energy independence. Strategic partnerships on critical raw materials with four EECA countries – Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Serbia – form part of this effort, alongside plans for similar agreements and ‘strategic projects’ with(in) this and other world regions. The CRMA's lack of demand reduction targets and credible human rights and environmental safeguards, however, has been met with much criticism, propelled by concerns about low transparency and limited consultation with local communities and NGOs during partnership negotiations and project selection.

Our 2024 data shows that abuses in EECA’s transition minerals industry have more than tripled compared to the 2019-2023 period. In countries such as Kazakhstan, Serbia and Ukraine, the number of alleged abuses in 2024 alone exceeded the total for the previous five years, with occupational health and safety violations being the most common, followed by workplace deaths and personal health issues. Communities were primarily impacted by environmental harms, including pollution and violations of safety standards.

EU countries and companies are not remotely the only ones seeking access to critical raw materials from resource-rich nations, which often lack proper enforcement of protections for workers, communities and Indigenous Peoples, including their right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Global competition for key minerals risks creating a new kind of race to the bottom at the expense of local populations who already are among the most vulnerable and marginalised. Unless this risk is addressed, the transition to clean energy technology will usher in renewed extractivism, abuse, distrust, delay and cost.

In the face of growing abuses, civil society and local communities are resisting harmful mining projects. Residents of Šabac, Serbia, opposed Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium project over environmental and health concerns, later joined by tens of thousands in Belgrade. This resistance is increasingly met with retaliation from governments and companies. In Georgia, courts banned protests near Chiatura, while residents of Shukruti faced 30 lawsuits and job dismissals. In Serbia, three activists opposing Zijin Mining faced criminal charges, and another critic of Rio Tinto’s lithium project received anonymous death threats. In most EECA countries we researched, major mining companies are owned or controlled by powerful businessmen with close ties to political elites. This creates significant barriers for workers and local communities seeking justice for human rights and environmental abuse

Contestation and alleged abuse are not confined to the EECA region. Norway’s Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that the government had violated the rights of Indigenous Sámi people by permitting the construction of wind farms on their ancestral lands. A subsequent agreement after three years of dispute included an allocation of the energy for community purposes. More recently, in March 2025, the Aarhus Convention Committee ruled that Portugal failed to respect citizens’ rights to environmental information and public participation regarding the Barroso lithium mine – one of 47 EU-internal ‘strategic projects’ to secure access to critical raw materials under the CRMA.

These struggles send a clear message: a clean energy transition that fails to respect human rights risks reproducing some of the very harm it seeks to overcome. It is essential that workers’ organisations and local and Indigenous Peoples’ communities along minerals supply chains are included in every stage of project development and implementation. Authorities should guarantee full transparency in the licensing and operation of mining projects, especially those using fast-tracked approval processes. They must closely monitor corporate compliance with environmental and safety standards to prevent abuses and uphold accountability. Furthermore, legal frameworks must explicitly recognise the right to sustainable development, a healthy environment, and the protection of human rights defenders, with a firm zero-tolerance policy toward attacks against them. Governments should also ensure accessible and effective judicial and non-judicial remedies for victims of business-related harms and enforce robust anti-corruption measures across all levels.

With transition minerals expected to feature at a UN climate summit for the first time, there is a chance for COP30 to recognise the urgency of transition minerals governance. Governments across Europe and Central Asia (and worldwide) must step up their climate action while promoting just transition principles that advance shared prosperity, uphold human rights due diligence, and ensure fair negotiations.