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EXTRACTIVISM Lecture Series 22/23: Supply Chain Laws and Certification of Resources
01.12.2022 in Kassel: Supply chain laws and certification of resources (Prof. Dr. Lena Partzsch, Freie Universität Berlin)
Supply chain laws and certification of raw materials are receiving increasing attention in the context of climate change and the energy transition. This is because the mining of lithium and cobalt, for example, which are needed for solar plants and wind turbines, is often associated with immense ecological and social problems. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, has half of the world's cobalt reserves. Mining there is associated with the same exploitative and violent practices as tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) - the so-called "conflict minerals". In the European Union (EU), due diligence obligations have been in place for the latter for several years. The aim is to prevent the financing of violence through the international trade in these minerals. The EU is thus using its trading power to enforce international peace, even if this leads to high prices for raw material imports. However, it is clear that, as with certification, the implementation costs primarily disadvantage small local producers, which exacerbates global market concentrations. In addition, stereotypical narratives about the global South and Africa in particular as a "barbaric" continent are reproduced. Using the DRC as an example, the lecture will explain power shifts between the global North and South through supply chain laws and certification.
From the series
Climate change and raw materials: risk or opportunity?
Extractivism lecture series in the winter semester 2022/2023
It is already foreseeable that the global importance of raw materials will continue to increase in the coming years. Efforts to make the energy transition sustainable and thus help shape climate change require that raw materials are given a special status. The desired energy transition for the purpose of sustainable climate policy will massively change the raw material basis of the global economy. This not only means profound change processes for the countries of the Global North, but also has serious consequences for many countries of the South that depend on raw material exports. This challenges the existing structure of the international system and the global economy.
The lecture series addresses this problem context and approaches the issues initially from the perspective of Latin America and the Maghreb. The contributions focus on the relationship between raw materials and climate change from an empirical, regional and/or theoretical perspective. They are linked by the fact that they not only analyze the risks of the relationship between raw materials and climate change, but also shed light on the possibilities and opportunities.
The lecture series will take place on Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., alternating between Kassel and Marburg. To take part in the event online, you can register HERE.
27.10.2022 in Kassel: 500 years of interdependence between Latin America and Europe (Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Burchardt, University of Kassel)
03.11.2022 in Kassel: Amazon, oil reserves and corporate climate management: A Brazilian perspective on the achievability of the Paris climate goals (Prof. Dr. Anita Engels, Thomas Frisch, Solange Commelin; University of Hamburg)
10.11.2022 in Marburg: Patrimonial capitalism, pensions and development (Prof. Dr. Oliver Schlumberger, University of Tübingen)
17.11.2022 in Kassel: Geopolitics of the "Great Transformation" (Prof. Dr. Markus Lederer, Technical University of Darmstadt)
24.11.2022 in Kassel: Petrolism in the Middle East (Prof. Dr. Martin Beck, University of Kurdistan Hewlêr)
01.12.2022 in Kassel: Supply chain laws and certification of resources (Prof. Dr. Lena Partzsch, Freie Universität Berlin)
08.12.2022 in Marburg: Oil and the middle classes in Iran (Prof. Dr. Mohammed Farzanegan, Philipps University Marburg)
15.12.2022 in Kassel: Circular economy, raw materials and climate change (Prof. Dr. Sina Leipold, Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig)
12.01.2023 in Marburg: Everything flows? The importance of water for the social contract in Morocco (Dr. Annabelle Houdret, German Development Institute, Bonn)
19.01.2023 in Kassel: Is Latin America too rich for development? (Dr. Hannes Warnecke-Berger / Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Burchardt, University of Kassel)
26.01.2023 in Marburg: Climate change and prospects for socio-ecological transformation (Prof. Dr. Klaus Dörre, Friedrich Schiller University Jena)
02.02.2023 in Kassel: News of the "resource curse": On the relationality of unequal development (Prof. Dr. Stephan Lessenich, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main)
09.02.2022 in Marburg: 500 years of interdependence between the Maghreb and Europe (Prof. Dr. Rachid Ouaissa, Philipps University Marburg)