Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024

Myanmar bears cost of green energy


Nepalnews
AP
2022 Aug 09, 19:57,
A depiction of a rare earth mining operation in Myanmar. (AP Illustration)

The birds no longer sing, and the herbs no longer grow. The fish no longer swim in rivers that have turned a murky brown. The animals do not roam, and the cows are sometimes found dead.

The people in this northern Myanmar forest have lost a way of life that goes back generations. But if they complain, they, too, face the threat of death.

This forest is the source of several key metallic elements known as rare earths, often called the vitamins of the modern world. Rare earths now reach into the lives of almost everyone on the planet, turning up in everything from hard drives and cellphones to elevators and trains. They are especially vital to the fast-growing field of green energy, feeding wind turbines and electric car engines. And they end up in the supply chains of some of the most prominent companies in the world, including General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Tesla and Apple.

But an AP investigation has found that their universal use hides a dirty open secret in the industry: Their cost is environmental destruction, the theft of land from villagers and the funneling of money to brutal militias, including at least one linked to Myanmar’s secretive military government. As demand soars for rare earths along with green energy, the abuses are likely to grow.

“This rapid push to build out mining capacity is being justified in the name of climate change,” said Julie Michelle Klinger, author of the book “Rare Earths Frontiers,” who is leading a federal project to trace illicit energy minerals. “There’s still this push to find the right place to mine them, which is a place that is out of sight and out of mind.”

In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a new rare earth mine is dug into the side of a mountain in Pangwa, Kachin, Myanmar. The region is close to the Chinese border and the home of hundreds of rare earth mining sites. In the wake of rare earth element mining, an AP investigation has found environmental destruction, the theft of land from villagers and the funneling of money to brutal militias with links to Myanmar's secretive military government. (via AP)
In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a new rare earth mine is dug into the side of a mountain in Pangwa, Kachin, Myanmar. The region is close to the Chinese border and the home of hundreds of rare earth mining sites. In the wake of rare earth element mining, an AP investigation has found environmental destruction, the theft of land from villagers and the funneling of money to brutal militias with links to Myanmar's secretive military government. (via AP)

The AP investigation drew on dozens of interviews, customs data, corporate records and Chinese academic papers, along with satellite imagery and geological analysis gathered by the environmental non-profit Global Witness, to tie rare earths from Myanmar to the supply chains of 78 companies.

About a third of the companies responded. Of those, about two-thirds didn’t or wouldn’t comment on their sourcing, including Volkswagen, which said it was conducting due diligence for rare earths. Nearly all said they took environmental protection and human rights seriously.

Some companies said they audited their rare earth supply chains; others didn’t or required only supplier self-assessments. GM said it understood “the risks of heavy rare earths metals” and would source from an American supplier soon.

Tesla did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and Mercedes said they contacted suppliers to learn more in response to this story. Apple said “a majority” of their rare earths were recycled and they found “no evidence” of any from Myanmar, but experts say in general there is usually no way to make sure.

Just as dirty rare earths trickle down the supply chains of companies, they also slip through the cracks of regulation.

In 2010, in response to war in the Congo, Congress required companies to disclose the origin of so-called conflict minerals — tantalum, tin, gold and tungsten — and promise their sourcing does not benefit armed groups. But the law does not cover rare earths. Audits are left up to individual companies, and no single agency is held accountable.

The State Department, which leads work on securing the U.S. rare earths supply, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. But experts say the government weighs the regulation of rare earths against other green goals, such as the sales and use of electric vehicles. With ongoing negotiations in Congress, the issue has become increasingly touchy, they say.

In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a truck drives through an area near Pangwa, Myanmar, near the border with China. Trucks like these are used to transport mined rare earth materials from Myanmar to China, where it will be processed and put into high tech products that end up on the international market. (via AP)
In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a truck drives through an area near Pangwa, Myanmar, near the border with China. Trucks like these are used to transport mined rare earth materials from Myanmar to China, where it will be processed and put into high tech products that end up on the international market. (via AP)

Rare earths are also omitted from the European Union’s 2021 regulation on conflict minerals. A European Commission statement noted gaps in oversight of the supply chain stretching to Europe, and said “it is yet unclear how” a Chinese push to regulate rare earths will work.

With no regulation or alternatives, companies have quietly continued shipping rare earths without environmental, social and governance audits, known as ESG.

“What would be the result if now the world would say, ‘We want to do ESG audits on all rare earths production’?” said Thomas Kruemmer, director of Ginger International Trade & Investment, which does mineral and metal supply chain management. “The result would be that 70% of production would need to be closed down.”

In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a truck drives through an area near Pangwa, Myanmar, near the border with China. Trucks like these are used to transport mined rare earth materials from Myanmar to China, where it will be processed and put into high tech products that end up on the international market. ( via AP)
In this early 2022 photo provided by Global Witness, a truck drives through an area near Pangwa, Myanmar, near the border with China. Trucks like these are used to transport mined rare earth materials from Myanmar to China, where it will be processed and put into high tech products that end up on the international market. ( via AP)

READ ALSO:

Myanmar green energy 'The Sacrifice Zone' metallic elements Myanmar’s secretive military government GM European Union ESG
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