Political events and a wave of conservative populist ideology sweeping democracies worldwide are causing a shift away from decarbonisation and the green economy, meaning nations and companies committed to sustainability must double their efforts.
This is according to Levin Sources founding CEO Estelle Levin-Nally. She spoke to delegates at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Thursday. At least 64 democracies held elections in 2024, culminating in the election of Donald Trump as US president.
Trump assumed office in January and signed an executive order beginning the US’s process of pulling out of the 2017 Paris Agreement, meaning the country will be out of the agreement by early 2026.
Levin-Nally said while the filtering of climate scepticism into government policies in some of the world’s most powerful countries was concerning, she had confidence in the countries that have remained committed to decarbonising and transitioning to low-carbon development.
“We are in a shift towards political changes and a retreat by some markets away from sustainability, which is short sighted. What it means is I think we are going to see a much more authentic quality of information coming out and the desire to rethink what we need to do in this space is better,” she said.
She urged governments and companies to be transparent in their investments in green minerals and decarbonisation, adding that environmental, social and governance standards dictated that green minerals should be sourced ethically.
“We can’t futureproof African mining tomorrow if we don’t get better at transparency and responsible sourcing. There are some movements behind transparency and [they] have led to the beginning of justifications to businesses working together to create collaborative efforts for transparency.”
The panel also took place as the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) intensified, resulting in SA National Defence Force (SANDF) casualties. The DRC is a source of several minerals, including cobalt, needed to power the green economy and technology.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sector lead for mineral supply chains Benjamin Katz said industry needed a consistent set of guidelines to ensure mining operations were not found at the centre of geopolitical conflicts and human rights abuses in mineral-rich parts of the world.
“We’re in a world where even if we have seen a lot of programmes over the past 15 years, we still have the spectre of conflict financing and human rights abuses. We have a lot of fragmentation in the sector. We are concerned about making sure [that] what we already have works,” he said.
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative spokesperson Joanna Jones said green minerals were still likely to see a surge in demand despite some economies’ retreat from climate commitments. However, these minerals need to be applied according to the highest governance standards.
“These transition minerals are important. The surge in demand that we might see presents an opportunity, but it brings risk. For those benefits to be realised in government, jobs, infrastructure, investments, we also need to address those risks,” she said.
Economies around the world are preparing for the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will introduce a tariff on carbon-intensive goods exported into the trading bloc starting in 2026.
Business Times
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