This study investigates the gendered consequences of mining-led development in the Caraga region of the Philippines. Drawing on a mixed-methods design across four barangays with varying mining exposure, we analyze how structural constraints—unpaid care labor, limited educational access, employment precarity, and geographic isolation—intersect to restrict women’s socioeconomic mobility. Using Gender Analysis, Intersectionality, and Social Reproduction Theory, we reveal how these layered exclusions sustain economic inequality despite women’s vital, yet invisible, contributions to household and community survival. Findings indicate a need for gender-sensitive governance and inclusive post-extractive planning. This paper advances feminist development and extractive industry scholarship by empirically demonstrating how care work, labor marginalization, and spatial peripherality entrench gendered vulnerability in resource-dependent regions.
{"title":"Invisible labor and unequal futures: Women’s structural constraints in Philippine mining communities","authors":"Rachel Arcede , Jewry Catle , Ordem Maglente , Jayrold Arcede","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101786","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101786","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the gendered consequences of mining-led development in the Caraga region of the Philippines. Drawing on a mixed-methods design across four barangays with varying mining exposure, we analyze how structural constraints—unpaid care labor, limited educational access, employment precarity, and geographic isolation—intersect to restrict women’s socioeconomic mobility. Using Gender Analysis, Intersectionality, and Social Reproduction Theory, we reveal how these layered exclusions sustain economic inequality despite women’s vital, yet invisible, contributions to household and community survival. Findings indicate a need for gender-sensitive governance and inclusive post-extractive planning. This paper advances feminist development and extractive industry scholarship by empirically demonstrating how care work, labor marginalization, and spatial peripherality entrench gendered vulnerability in resource-dependent regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101786"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145158987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-25DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101785
Daniel Kaplan , Bohumil Frantál
The post-mining landscape restoration is a global challenge which involves many dilemmas and arouses land use conflicts. While the potential of natural succession and the importance of participatory planning have been emphasized, the voices of local stakeholders - particularly the young generation - remain absent from decision-making processes. This study addresses this gap by exploring how children aged 6–12 living near a large surface coal mine envision the future of landscape, using drawings as a research method. Based on visual content analysis of 46 images, we examine the diversity of children's preferences and their alignment with adult-oriented plans. The pictures reveal a wide spectrum of ideas, from low-intervention natural landscapes to highly anthropogenic designs featuring waterparks, or housing developments. Statistically significant differences were observed between younger and older children, with older ones showing a greater preference for natural landscapes. Children’s visions were influenced by existing local features yet also expressed imaginative alternatives beyond conventional planning frameworks. The study demonstrates the methodological value of using drawings to map spatial perceptions and highlights the potential for meaningful child participation in post-mining land use, thus rather than dismissing children’s ideas as unrealistic, planners should consider their contributions as legitimate and insightful.
{"title":"The future of coal mining landscape in children´s imagination: Using drawings as a research tool in post-mining land use planning","authors":"Daniel Kaplan , Bohumil Frantál","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101785","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101785","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The post-mining landscape restoration is a global challenge which involves many dilemmas and arouses land use conflicts. While the potential of natural succession and the importance of participatory planning have been emphasized, the voices of local stakeholders - particularly the young generation - remain absent from decision-making processes. This study addresses this gap by exploring how children aged 6–12 living near a large surface coal mine envision the future of landscape, using drawings as a research method. Based on visual content analysis of 46 images, we examine the diversity of children's preferences and their alignment with adult-oriented plans. The pictures reveal a wide spectrum of ideas, from low-intervention natural landscapes to highly anthropogenic designs featuring waterparks, or housing developments. Statistically significant differences were observed between younger and older children, with older ones showing a greater preference for natural landscapes. Children’s visions were influenced by existing local features yet also expressed imaginative alternatives beyond conventional planning frameworks. The study demonstrates the methodological value of using drawings to map spatial perceptions and highlights the potential for meaningful child participation in post-mining land use, thus rather than dismissing children’s ideas as unrealistic, planners should consider their contributions as legitimate and insightful.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101785"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145158985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101788
Olushola Daniel Eniowo , Hendrik Grobler , Antoine F. Mulaba-Bafubiandi , Moshood Onifade , Olasumbo Makinde , Sunday Olabisi Daramola
The rapid global demand for lithium, driven by the energy transition and the adoption of green technologies, has intensified interest in Nigeria's lithium-rich mineral deposits. However, the burgeoning small-scale lithium mining sector is plagued by significant revenue leakages that undermine the country’s economic potential and sustainable development efforts. This study examines the root causes and mechanisms of revenue losses in Nigeria’s small-scale lithium mining, with a focus on regulatory loopholes, informal trading networks, inadequate monitoring systems, and weak institutional enforcement. The study employed a qualitative research method, which involved a grounded theory approach using inductive reasoning to analyse semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the Nigerian small-scale lithium sector, including miners, buyers, and regulatory officials. The field data, which were collected through interviews, were transcribed, coded and thematically analysed using Atlas.ti to identify patterns of leakage in royalty collection and governance. The findings reveal six major drivers of revenue leakage: false production disclosure, inadequate logistics for monitoring, lack of data collection, lack of export disclosure, lack of incentives for royalty payment-compliant miners, and mineral smuggling by foreigners. Additionally, the study identified six counterproductive policies and regulatory challenges affecting revenue generation in the sector, which include weak monitoring, bureaucracy, policy change and inconsistencies, extortion by enforcement agencies, regulatory inefficiency, and multiple taxation by different levels of government. The study concludes by underscoring the urgent need for policy reform, capacity building in regulatory institutions, and the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining operations. By addressing these structural gaps, Nigeria can not only curb revenue leakages but also position itself as a key player in the global lithium supply chain while advancing economic diversification and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
{"title":"Plugging the gaps: Sustainable resource policy and revenue leakages in Nigeria’s small-scale lithium mining","authors":"Olushola Daniel Eniowo , Hendrik Grobler , Antoine F. Mulaba-Bafubiandi , Moshood Onifade , Olasumbo Makinde , Sunday Olabisi Daramola","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101788","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101788","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid global demand for lithium, driven by the energy transition and the adoption of green technologies, has intensified interest in Nigeria's lithium-rich mineral deposits. However, the burgeoning small-scale lithium mining sector is plagued by significant revenue leakages that undermine the country’s economic potential and sustainable development efforts. This study examines the root causes and mechanisms of revenue losses in Nigeria’s small-scale lithium mining, with a focus on regulatory loopholes, informal trading networks, inadequate monitoring systems, and weak institutional enforcement. The study employed a qualitative research method, which involved a grounded theory approach using inductive reasoning to analyse semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the Nigerian small-scale lithium sector, including miners, buyers, and regulatory officials. The field data, which were collected through interviews, were transcribed, coded and thematically analysed using <em>Atlas.ti</em> to identify patterns of leakage in royalty collection and governance. The findings reveal six major drivers of revenue leakage: false production disclosure, inadequate logistics for monitoring, lack of data collection, lack of export disclosure, lack of incentives for royalty payment-compliant miners, and mineral smuggling by foreigners. Additionally, the study identified six counterproductive policies and regulatory challenges affecting revenue generation in the sector, which include weak monitoring, bureaucracy, policy change and inconsistencies, extortion by enforcement agencies, regulatory inefficiency, and multiple taxation by different levels of government. The study concludes by underscoring the urgent need for policy reform, capacity building in regulatory institutions, and the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining operations. By addressing these structural gaps, Nigeria can not only curb revenue leakages but also position itself as a key player in the global lithium supply chain while advancing economic diversification and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101788"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145118851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101782
Tyler McCreary , James Wilt , Warren Bernauer
As a crisis response to the economic uncertainty associated with American tariffs, Canadian politicians have committed to accelerate development of extractive projects and infrastructure to expand trade with diversified global markets. Across the political spectrum, Canadian legislators are rushing to rewrite laws to fast-track project approvals and codify a newly emergent political consensus around the need for speed in export-oriented extraction. In this short intervention, we point to the need for new community-based research with Indigenous communities to evaluate the impacts of the acceleration of extractive politics in Canada.
{"title":"Accelerated extractivism in the age of tariffs: Impacts on Indigenous peoples","authors":"Tyler McCreary , James Wilt , Warren Bernauer","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101782","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101782","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a crisis response to the economic uncertainty associated with American tariffs, Canadian politicians have committed to accelerate development of extractive projects and infrastructure to expand trade with diversified global markets. Across the political spectrum, Canadian legislators are rushing to rewrite laws to fast-track project approvals and codify a newly emergent political consensus around the need for speed in export-oriented extraction. In this short intervention, we point to the need for new community-based research with Indigenous communities to evaluate the impacts of the acceleration of extractive politics in Canada.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101782"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145118977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-23DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101774
Fabian Teichmann
The mining and metals sector faces a surge in cyber incidents, with reported attacks tripling from 10 in 2023 to 30 in 2024. These attacks increasingly target operational technology (OT) – the industrial control systems that underpin extraction and processing – resulting in costly production stoppages. This study investigates the economic and governance challenges posed by these cybersecurity risks. We compare the expected costs of OT-related operational disruptions against the investments required for compliance with the European Union’s new NIS2 Directive on network and information security. Using case studies of European mining companies (e.g., Aurubis and Norsk Hydro) that experienced cyberattacks and now fall under NIS2 obligations, we examine how strong governance (such as board-level cybersecurity oversight and training for directors) correlates with incident frequency and severity. We develop an event-based Monte Carlo simulation model to estimate annual loss distributions from cyberattacks under different preventive investment levels. The results yield cost-risk curves illustrating diminishing marginal benefits of high cybersecurity expenditures. Our findings highlight a clear trade-off: proactive resilience investments and NIS2 compliance incur significant upfront costs, but can substantially reduce the probability of catastrophic OT outages and regulatory penalties. The analysis underscores that effective governance – including board accountability and dedicated cybersecurity leadership – is vital for mitigating risks. This interdisciplinary work offers insights for industry practitioners, regulators, and academics on balancing the socio-economic costs of cybersecurity in mining with the imperative of operational resilience and regulatory compliance.
{"title":"Cybersecurity risks in mining’s operational technology: Implications of OT vulnerabilities and EU NIS2 compliance","authors":"Fabian Teichmann","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101774","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101774","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The mining and metals sector faces a surge in cyber incidents, with reported attacks tripling from 10 in 2023 to 30 in 2024. These attacks increasingly target operational technology (OT) – the industrial control systems that underpin extraction and processing – resulting in costly production stoppages. This study investigates the economic and governance challenges posed by these cybersecurity risks. We compare the expected costs of OT-related operational disruptions against the investments required for compliance with the European Union’s new NIS2 Directive on network and information security. Using case studies of European mining companies (e.g., Aurubis and Norsk Hydro) that experienced cyberattacks and now fall under NIS2 obligations, we examine how strong governance (such as board-level cybersecurity oversight and training for directors) correlates with incident frequency and severity. We develop an event-based Monte Carlo simulation model to estimate annual loss distributions from cyberattacks under different preventive investment levels. The results yield cost-risk curves illustrating diminishing marginal benefits of high cybersecurity expenditures. Our findings highlight a clear trade-off: proactive resilience investments and NIS2 compliance incur significant upfront costs, but can substantially reduce the probability of catastrophic OT outages and regulatory penalties. The analysis underscores that effective governance – including board accountability and dedicated cybersecurity leadership – is vital for mitigating risks. This interdisciplinary work offers insights for industry practitioners, regulators, and academics on balancing the socio-economic costs of cybersecurity in mining with the imperative of operational resilience and regulatory compliance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101774"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145118852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101724
Ramón Balcázar M․ , Melisa Argento
Globally, decarbonisation policies are driving interest and speculation around the extraction of minerals such as lithium, which is mostly found in Indigenous and rural territories in the Puna de Atacama, within the transborder Circumpuneña Region. In this deployment, capital expansion has driven public-private strategies that seek to respond to territorial tensions and expand mineral extraction. Based on militant research situated in long-term relations with territorial resistances and nature protection initiatives in the region, in this article, we analyse this set of practices in four salt flats in Chile and Argentina. We argue that lithium extractivism expands through a ‘governance of dispossession’ model that responds to an emerging global scenario marked by the emergence of new public-corporate arrangements pushed by global powers seeking to ensure their access to so-called critical minerals more responsibly. These strategies also adapt to the local contexts marked by conflicts and tensions between Indigenous communities, mining companies, and State agencies to achieve legitimation. Moreover, the dispossession dynamics linked to lithium exploitation are enabled by a social engineering developed not only by mining corporations and State institutions, but also by car makers, civil society organisations, international cooperation organisations and, eventually, both public and private research centres. We conclude that these adaptations, far from being a solution to socio-environmental conflicts and Indigenous demands for FPIC, translate into a sophistication of the impacts of green extractivism in the Puna de Atacama. As we observe lithium companies' progressive adaptation of voluntary mining standards, we suggest that understanding the social and material impacts of brine mining in the Andean salt flats through independent, transdisciplinary studies is essential for impactful research and rightful policymaking.
在全球范围内，脱碳政策正在推动人们对锂等矿物开采的兴趣和猜测，锂主要存在于跨境Circumpuneña地区的阿塔卡马Puna de Atacama的土著和农村地区。在这种部署中，资本扩张推动了寻求应对领土紧张局势和扩大矿产开采的公私战略。基于与该地区领土抵抗和自然保护倡议的长期关系的激进研究，在本文中，我们分析了智利和阿根廷四个盐滩的这一套做法。我们认为，锂的开采活动通过一种“剥夺治理”模式扩张，这种模式是对新兴的全球情景的回应，其标志是全球大国推动的新的公共-公司安排的出现，以确保他们更负责任地获得所谓的关键矿物。这些战略还适应土著社区、矿业公司和国家机构之间的冲突和紧张局势，以实现合法化。此外，与锂开采相关的剥夺动态是由一种社会工程实现的，这种社会工程不仅由矿业公司和国家机构开发，而且由汽车制造商、民间社会组织、国际合作组织以及最终由公共和私人研究中心开发。我们的结论是，这些适应，远不是解决社会环境冲突和土著居民对FPIC的要求，而是转化为阿塔卡马Puna de Atacama绿色开采活动的复杂影响。当我们观察到锂公司对自愿采矿标准的逐步适应时，我们建议通过独立的跨学科研究了解安第斯盐滩卤水开采的社会和物质影响，这对于有影响力的研究和合理的政策制定至关重要。
{"title":"From socio-environmental conflict to responsible lithium mining: understanding the Governance of Dispossession from the salt flats of Chile and Argentina","authors":"Ramón Balcázar M․ , Melisa Argento","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101724","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101724","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Globally, decarbonisation policies are driving interest and speculation around the extraction of minerals such as lithium, which is mostly found in Indigenous and rural territories in the Puna de Atacama, within the transborder Circumpuneña Region. In this deployment, capital expansion has driven public-private strategies that seek to respond to territorial tensions and expand mineral extraction. Based on militant research situated in long-term relations with territorial resistances and nature protection initiatives in the region, in this article, we analyse this set of practices in four salt flats in Chile and Argentina. We argue that lithium extractivism expands through a ‘governance of dispossession’ model that responds to an emerging global scenario marked by the emergence of new public-corporate arrangements pushed by global powers seeking to ensure their access to so-called critical minerals more responsibly. These strategies also adapt to the local contexts marked by conflicts and tensions between Indigenous communities, mining companies, and State agencies to achieve legitimation. Moreover, the dispossession dynamics linked to lithium exploitation are enabled by a social engineering developed not only by mining corporations and State institutions, but also by car makers, civil society organisations, international cooperation organisations and, eventually, both public and private research centres. We conclude that these adaptations, far from being a solution to socio-environmental conflicts and Indigenous demands for FPIC, translate into a sophistication of the impacts of green extractivism in the Puna de Atacama. As we observe lithium companies' progressive adaptation of voluntary mining standards, we suggest that understanding the social and material impacts of brine mining in the Andean salt flats through independent, transdisciplinary studies is essential for impactful research and rightful policymaking.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101724"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145118978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101765
Christopher Vandome
Geopolitical discrimination is shaping the race for strategic and critical minerals (SCMs), particularly in Africa. Western governments energy security concerns are leading to the formation of exclusive alliances to secure SCMs while excluding China due to geopolitical tensions. This creates a dilemma for African nations, which possess vast mineral reserves but maintain strong economic ties across these geopolitical divides. The nature of transnational supply chains and important role of both western and eastern partners for African states, have resulted in complicated trading relationships. African governments face a choice: join geopolitical groupings in expectation of enhanced support on developmental ambitions around processing and industrialisation; or to maintain a‘non-aligned’ stance to maximise the benefits of diverse relationships. This article argues that the current economic incentives are insufficient for African states to limit their geopolitical alignments. Western financing is insufficient to guarantee supply security from African producers and doesn’t reflect commercial realities. Promises of developmental benefits and enhanced ESG criteria are often unsubstantiated or lack detail. As a result, African nations will likely continue to balance their international partnerships to benefit from extractive opportunities, while potentially missing out on longer term benefits of inclusion into deeper and higher value energy security partnerships.
{"title":"Geopolitical discrimination and institutional governance of strategic and critical minerals: Implications for Africa","authors":"Christopher Vandome","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101765","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101765","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Geopolitical discrimination is shaping the race for strategic and critical minerals (SCMs), particularly in Africa. Western governments energy security concerns are leading to the formation of exclusive alliances to secure SCMs while excluding China due to geopolitical tensions. This creates a dilemma for African nations, which possess vast mineral reserves but maintain strong economic ties across these geopolitical divides. The nature of transnational supply chains and important role of both western and eastern partners for African states, have resulted in complicated trading relationships. African governments face a choice: join geopolitical groupings in expectation of enhanced support on developmental ambitions around processing and industrialisation; or to maintain a‘non-aligned’ stance to maximise the benefits of diverse relationships. This article argues that the current economic incentives are insufficient for African states to limit their geopolitical alignments. Western financing is insufficient to guarantee supply security from African producers and doesn’t reflect commercial realities. Promises of developmental benefits and enhanced ESG criteria are often unsubstantiated or lack detail. As a result, African nations will likely continue to balance their international partnerships to benefit from extractive opportunities, while potentially missing out on longer term benefits of inclusion into deeper and higher value energy security partnerships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101765"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145118849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-19DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101773
Vlado Vivoda , Danilo Borja , Ghaleb Krame
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming economies and infrastructures, but its accelerating electricity demand poses new governance challenges across the energy trilemma of security, justice, and sustainability. This paper offers a conceptual and policy-oriented analysis of AI’s expanding energy footprint through the 4As framework—availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptance—nested within the trilemma. It positions itself as a synthesis of empirical evidence and anticipatory projections to clarify current impacts while mapping uncertain futures. The analysis demonstrates that AI’s energy impacts are characterised by uncertainty, regional variation, and rebound effects, requiring careful qualification of projections. High-profile scenarios such as mega data-centre projects or market forecasts illustrate possible trajectories, but they must be situated within broader ranges and benchmarks to avoid unwarranted determinism. The paper identifies justice implications of uneven AI adoption, sustainability risks from concentrated infrastructure, and opportunities for anticipatory governance. It concludes with policy recommendations classified by governance level, emphasising transparency, international coordination, and a forward-looking research agenda on the political economy of AI and energy.
{"title":"AI’s energy paradox: Governing the trilemma of security, justice, and sustainability","authors":"Vlado Vivoda , Danilo Borja , Ghaleb Krame","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101773","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101773","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming economies and infrastructures, but its accelerating electricity demand poses new governance challenges across the energy trilemma of security, justice, and sustainability. This paper offers a conceptual and policy-oriented analysis of AI’s expanding energy footprint through the 4As framework—availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptance—nested within the trilemma. It positions itself as a synthesis of empirical evidence and anticipatory projections to clarify current impacts while mapping uncertain futures. The analysis demonstrates that AI’s energy impacts are characterised by uncertainty, regional variation, and rebound effects, requiring careful qualification of projections. High-profile scenarios such as mega data-centre projects or market forecasts illustrate possible trajectories, but they must be situated within broader ranges and benchmarks to avoid unwarranted determinism. The paper identifies justice implications of uneven AI adoption, sustainability risks from concentrated infrastructure, and opportunities for anticipatory governance. It concludes with policy recommendations classified by governance level, emphasising transparency, international coordination, and a forward-looking research agenda on the political economy of AI and energy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101773"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101766
Alessandra Brito Leal, Waldyr Luiz Ribeiro Gallo
This article examines Petrobras’ strategic reorientation from downstream to upstream activities. While upstream expansion has been extensively studied, less attention has been given to the consequences of downstream divestment. Drawing on a qualitative, historical-institutional approach based on documentary analysis, the paper analyzes the political, institutional, and economic drivers of this shift and its implications. The findings show that the sale of BR Distribuidora, the privatization of refineries, and the progressive reduction of refining investments have reconfigured Petrobras’ vertical integration, increasing the company’s exposure to international oil-price volatility and reducing Brazil’s capacity to generate value-added products domestically. Consequently, Petrobras finds itself in a delicate position, with potential risks to the flow of its primary derivative, fuel oil. This imbalance underscores the urgency of directing investments toward higher value-added products such as gasoline and diesel, in order to strengthen industrial capacity and reduce external vulnerabilities. These dynamics carry significant implications for energy security, trade balance, and the future of state-owned enterprises in the context of the global energy transition. By addressing this gap, the study contributes to debates on the political economy of national oil companies and the challenges of balancing profitability, industrial development, and public policy objectives in resource-dependent economies.
{"title":"Petrobras and the abandonment of the downstream sector in Brazil","authors":"Alessandra Brito Leal, Waldyr Luiz Ribeiro Gallo","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101766","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101766","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article examines Petrobras’ strategic reorientation from downstream to upstream activities. While upstream expansion has been extensively studied, less attention has been given to the consequences of downstream divestment. Drawing on a qualitative, historical-institutional approach based on documentary analysis, the paper analyzes the political, institutional, and economic drivers of this shift and its implications. The findings show that the sale of BR Distribuidora, the privatization of refineries, and the progressive reduction of refining investments have reconfigured Petrobras’ vertical integration, increasing the company’s exposure to international oil-price volatility and reducing Brazil’s capacity to generate value-added products domestically. Consequently, Petrobras finds itself in a delicate position, with potential risks to the flow of its primary derivative, fuel oil. This imbalance underscores the urgency of directing investments toward higher value-added products such as gasoline and diesel, in order to strengthen industrial capacity and reduce external vulnerabilities. These dynamics carry significant implications for energy security, trade balance, and the future of state-owned enterprises in the context of the global energy transition. By addressing this gap, the study contributes to debates on the political economy of national oil companies and the challenges of balancing profitability, industrial development, and public policy objectives in resource-dependent economies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101766"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145020286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-04DOI: 10.1016/j.exis.2025.101764
Cali Nuur , Solmaz Filiz Karabag , Andreas Feldmann
The mining sector, like other sectors of the economy, is under increasing pressure to adopt circular economy (CE) principles across its value chains and core operations. This paper offers a critical and conceptually grounded contribution to understanding how CE can support systemic transformation in one of the most resource-intensive and path-dependent sectors of the global economy. It examines the structural and institutional conditions that shape the adoption of CE in mining and identifies key tensions that constrain or enable transformative change. In parallel, the paper explores emerging pathways informed by technological innovation, shifts in production routines, and the rise of new circular business models. These insights are synthesised into a multi-level framework that captures the dynamic interactions between micro-, meso-, and macro-level processes shaping CE transitions. In addition to offering a diagnostic perspective, the framework outlines concrete action points for advancing systemic change.
{"title":"Circular economy in the extractive frontier: Tensions and pathways for transformative change in mining","authors":"Cali Nuur , Solmaz Filiz Karabag , Andreas Feldmann","doi":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101764","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.exis.2025.101764","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The mining sector, like other sectors of the economy, is under increasing pressure to adopt circular economy (CE) principles across its value chains and core operations. This paper offers a critical and conceptually grounded contribution to understanding how CE can support systemic transformation in one of the most resource-intensive and path-dependent sectors of the global economy. It examines the structural and institutional conditions that shape the adoption of CE in mining and identifies key tensions that constrain or enable transformative change. In parallel, the paper explores emerging pathways informed by technological innovation, shifts in production routines, and the rise of new circular business models. These insights are synthesised into a multi-level framework that captures the dynamic interactions between micro-, meso-, and macro-level processes shaping CE transitions. In addition to offering a diagnostic perspective, the framework outlines concrete action points for advancing systemic change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47848,"journal":{"name":"Extractive Industries and Society-An International Journal","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article 101764"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号