Amandla! magazine | Issue 84

CLIMATE CRISIS

for green technologies, including electric
vehicles. Combined investments in low-
carbon energy technologies have now
reached 30% of global energy investments.

Demand for “green” metals
The term “green metals” is used to refer
to metals and minerals that are used in
the applications, products and processes
that enable the energy transition from
fossil fuels to “cleaner” energy sources
and technologies, typically in historically
developed economies in the Global North
and parts of the developing Global South.
Their applications range from electric
vehicles and battery storage to wind
turbines and solar panels. An example
of green metals and their use in various
applications would be vanadium, lithium
and manganese in the production of
batteries for electric cars or inputs into
wind turbines that prevent corrosion.
Green minerals and metals extraction,
shipping, beneficiation and then disposal
are far from green and sustainable. This is
all part of the greenwashing scam.
An International Monetary Fund
(IMF) study on the demand for metals in
support of the energy transition estimates
that in the coming decades it could reach
as much as 3 billion tons:

A typical electric vehicle battery

pack, for example, needs around

8 kilograms of lithium, 35

kilograms of nickel, 20 kilograms

of manganese and 14 kilograms

of cobalt, while charging stations

require substantial amounts of

copper. For green power, solar

panels use large quantities of

copper, silicon, silver, and zinc,

while wind turbines require iron

ore, copper, and aluminium.

This will demand a massive scaling up of
resource extraction, which is still unlikely
to meet global supply. This reality will,
no doubt, fuel a new round of conflict, as
nations vie for control over scarce and
valuable resources, with Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine being one case in point.
The type of infrastructure development
which is required to attract foreign
investment in extractives projects is
extremely costly. It is borne by the state,
and ultimately its citizens. Extensive
loans are required to implement these
projects, creating significant debt which
the state must service. This results in
austerity controls and cuts in social and
public services, which once again impact
negatively on poor and working-class
women.
Dirty energy corporations, major
financiers of energy projects, northern
governments and wealthy consumers
owe a great debt to peoples of the Global

South, and very specifically Africa,

already burdened by histories of slavery

and colonisation, extractivism, and the

growing climate and ecological crisis.

These debts are impossible to separate

from centuries-long extractivist, racist and

patriarchal capitalism, which continues

untrammelled in this decade under a new

“green” cloak.

Extractivism in South Africa

The history of extractivism in South Africa

is long and extensive. It takes a uniquely

toxic form due to the legacy of colonialism

and apartheid and the economic

dominance of what has come to be known

as the “Minerals Energy Complex”

(MEC). This relies on cheap labour and

power from coal to extract South Africa’s

minerals and metals to industrialise the

country. The MEC accumulation path is

in crisis and the pillars on which it rests

have been difficult to sustain in post-1994

South Africa, particularly following the

multiple economic and financial crises that

unfolded in the 2000s.

A major leg of the state’s strategy to

navigate South Africa out of its economic

crisis is the Economic Reconstruction

and Recovery Plan (ERRP). This plan

aims to create jobs, re-industrialise the

economy, and accelerate economic reforms

largely focused on the extractives sector.

Since July 2019 the Department of Trade,

Industry and Competition (DTIC) has led

the development of 14 industry-specific

masterplans. Many of these masterplans

centre on green extractivism, including

Operation Phakisa (the Oceans master

Plan), the Renewal Energy masterplan

(SAREM), the Hydrogen roadmap/master

plan and the Strategic Integrated Plans

which address infrastructure requirements.

In support of the SAREM and other

Master Plans, the state has gazetted 62

Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs), which

can follow an expedited path through

regulatory processes.

Role of Northern Cape

One of these projects is the Boegoebaai Port

Development, located between Alexander

Bay and Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape.

This includes the development of a natural

deep seaport, and a rail infrastructure

project. The South African government,

and Transnational Corporations like Sasol,

have pinpointed the Boegoebaai Harbour

as key to the export of green hydrogen

and ammonia. This harbour will form

part of a R14 billion plus green energy

development project to produce Green

Hydrogen. Green hydrogen development

will require massive cold storage facilities,

electrolysers to split hydrogen from water,

and about 260,000 hectares of land for

renewable energy like solar panels and

wind turbines. Boegoebaai will function

as a hub on a shipping corridor for

green hydrogen to Rotterdam, which is

establishing itself as the main gateway for

green hydrogen and other low carbon fuels

Supplies of several metals that are crucial to the green energy transition are heavily concentrated in just a

handful of nations. Figures are as a percentage of the market.

Metals and minerals key to this “transition”