Christopher Vandome

Where do the aluminium, cobalt, copper, gold, graphite, and tin in your phone, or if you’re lucky, your electric vehicle, come from? How was it produced? Who handled it? Did any of the material come from Africa, and if so, where and who had oversight of its production? Africa does not have a homogeneous mining sector. There is no single route from ore body to manufacturer or consumer for the myriad minerals and metals that emanate from the continent. The spectrum of actors involved in production includes global corporate mining giants, junior exploration outfits, traders, exchanges, smelters and processors, middlemen,…

In November 2021 on the side of the UK-hosted COP 26 climate summit, the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union (the International Partners Group – IPG) agreed to financially support South Africa to decarbonise its economy. The new Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) was the first example of collective action by countries in the Global North to subsidise and support a country in the Global South to achieve its nationally determined contribution (NDC) target. Since then, a new JETP with Indonesia has been announced, and there are plans for others including for…

The year 2023 marks two decades since the official launch of the Kimberley Process (KP) certification scheme. The certification process is an administrative response to a practical problem: enforce a certificate of origin attached to all shipments of rough diamonds to control and protect the legitimate rough diamond market and stem the flow of conflict diamonds defined as “rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments”. Towards this objective, it has been a success. The KP claims its members are responsible for stemming 99.8% of the global production of…