CRITICAL MINERALS: Creating a Just & Sustainable Clean Energy Transition

A short documentary directed by Mira Rubio and produced by the California Trade Justice Coalition.

The U.S. government is currently considering a number of new trade agreements designed to help secure access to so-called “critical minerals” — raw materials like nickel, cobalt, lithium and others that are used in clean-energy transition technologies like electric vehicles, long-storage batteries, microchips and solar panels.

Depending on how they’re written, these critical minerals trade agreements can help countries meet shared climate, job creation and sustainable development goals or they can end up accelerating exploitative models of resource extraction harmful to workers, communities and the environment.