Greening the European Economy at the Expense of the Global South?

Insights from Raw Material Exporting Countries

Panel discussion

The green and digital transformation of the European economies strongly increases its demand for raw materials. While the EU is intensifying efforts to enhance domestic extraction, it remains heavily reliant on imports from third countries. Although the EU portrays its raw material trade with the Global South as ‘mutually beneficial’, a closer examination of policy documents reveals that the primary goal is to secure a cheap and sustainable supply. The Critical Raw Materials Act includes commitments to respect ‘human rights, indigenous peoples’ and labour rights’, alongside requirements to ‘monitor, prevent and minimise environmental impacts’. However, the reality of raw material extraction is still characterised by the destruction of livelihoods, displacement, exploitation, and environmental degradation. Far from being a historical issue, these characteristics persist until today, driven by a new scramble for resources in the face of escalating geopolitical competition and the securitization of resource policies. The energy and raw material chapters in recent EU free trade agreements threaten to lock in countries in the Global South in their role as raw material suppliers, severely limiting their space for independent policymaking and economic diversification.

To better understand these growing contradictions in European raw materials policy, it is crucial to analyse it from the perspective of communities, workers, and activists in raw material-producing countries.

Key questions are: What are the consequences of the EU’s more strategic resource policy for exporting countries? How does the recent securitisation of resource policies shape resource exploitation and trade? What are possibilities and limitations of alternative strategies for resource extractivism in the Global South?

To register for this evening event (29/01/2025 – Centre for International Development): registration@oefse.at

The discussion is the opening event of the conference: „Rohstoffpolitik gerecht gestalten“ on January 30 and 31, 2025.

Die Konferenz wird gemeinsam organisiert von: AK Wien, Anders Handeln, Attac, Internationale Entwicklung, Kompetenzzentrum Alltagsökonomie, Mattersburger Kreis, ÖFSE, ÖGB Internationales Referat, PRO-GE, Solidar und Universität Wien – Institut für Politikwissenschaft