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Consider this strange (or perhaps not strange enough): we're now on a planet where, in late September, the temperature reached a record-breaking 117 degrees in Phoenix, Arizona, a state that also set records this summer for "the most days over 110 degrees, most consecutive days over 100 degrees, and the hottest meteorological summer on record." Meanwhile, in the East, a Category 4 hurricane, Helene, crossing the ever warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico, hit Florida's Big Bend like a sledgehammer and traveled another 600 miles, clobbering states all the way to Tennessee, leaving more than 220 dead and many more still missing, destroying significant parts of North Carolina's largest mountain city, and clobbering other parts of that state, halting mail service, and "disrupting absentee voting, thousands of voters cut off from polling locations and election administrators scrambling to adjust," while flooding parts of cities like Atlanta. And count on one thing: as bad as Helene proved to be, in the years (or even months) to come, it might seem like nothing special.
After all, on a planet where the production of fossil fuels -- with the United States leading the way when it comes to oil and natural gas, and China taking the prize for coal -- is still rising, this planet looks like it could become a hothouse of an historic sort. And under the circumstances, consider this all too strange: in each of the presidential and vice-presidential debates, a moderator brought up the subject of climate change with Donald Trump and then J.D. Vance. In both cases, Trump instantly started talking about migrants (though in the first debate with Joe Biden, he also referred passingly to a "green new scam"). In response, Biden briefly described his administration's climate record, but all too quickly passed on to other subjects; just as Kamala Harris did, after mentioning that Trump called climate change a "hoax"; as would Tim Walz when responding to vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance's quick and (meant-to-be) confusing answer on the subject.
In other words, in those three debates, the Republicans (of course!) but the Democrats (surprisingly!) did their best, if not to avoid, then to quickly pass by the subject of climate change as if it were" well, poison (which in a way, of course, it is for the planet as a whole). Forget that it's a subject that matters deeply to many younger voters; this election season suggests that all too many Americans can't fully face up to the crisis we're in or so many of the difficulties involved in dealing with it. That's why it's well worth taking a moment and considering TomDispatch regular Joshua Frank's look at one distinctly grim problem in the possible transition to a greener planet. As in the past, so today, the First World is intent on taking the Third World for" yes, a ride -- and not in electric vehicles either. Tom
The Cash Will Soon Flow
Robbing Africa's Riches to Save the Climate (and Power AI)
By Joshua Frank
Considered Angola's crown jewel by many, Lobito is a colorful port city on the country's scenic Atlantic coast where a nearly five-kilometer strip of land creates a natural harbor. Its white sand beaches, vibrant blue waters, and mild tropical climate have made Lobito a tourist destination in recent years. Yet under its shiny new facade is a history fraught with colonial violence and exploitation.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to lay claim to Angola in the late sixteenth century. For nearly four centuries, they didn't relent until a bloody, 27-year civil war with anticolonial guerillas (aided by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces) and bolstered by a leftist coup in distant Lisbon, Portugal's capital, overthrew that colonial regime in 1974.
Lobito's port was the economic heart of Portugal's reign in Angola, along with the meandering 1,866-kilometer Benguela Railway, which first became operational in the early 1900s. For much of the twentieth century, Lobito was the hub for exporting to Europe agricultural goods and metals mined in Africa's Copperbelt. Today, the Copperbelt remains a resource-rich region encompassing much of the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Zambia.
Perhaps it won't shock you to learn that, half a century after Portugal's colonial control of Angola ended, neocolonialism is now sinking its hooks into Lobito. Its port and the Benguela Railway, which travels along what's known as the Lobito Corridor, have become a key nucleus of China's and the Western world's efforts to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in our hot new world. If capitalist interests continue to drive this crucial transition, which is all too likely, while global energy consumption isn't scaled back radically, the amount of critical minerals needed to power the global future remains unfathomable. The World Economic Forum estimates that three billion tons of metals will be required. The International Energy Forum estimates that to meet the global goals of radically reducing carbon emissions, we'll also need between 35 and 194 massive copper mines by 2050.
It should come as no surprise that most of the minerals from copper to cobalt needed for that transition's machinery (including electric batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels) are located in Latin America and Africa. Worse yet, more than half (54%) of the critical minerals needed are on or near Indigenous lands, which means the most vulnerable populations in the world are at the most significant risk of being impacted in a deeply negative fashion by future mining and related operations.
When you want to understand what the future holds for a country in the "developing" world, as economists still like to call such regions, look no further than the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "With growing demand, proceeds from critical minerals are poised to rise significantly over the next two decades," reports the IMF. "Global revenues from the extraction of just four key minerals -- copper, nickel, cobalt, and lithium -- are estimated to total $16 trillion over the next 25 years. Sub-Saharan Africa stands to reap over 10 percent of these accumulated revenues, which could correspond to an increase in the region's GDP by 12 percent or more by 2050."
Sub-Saharan Africa alone is believed to contain 30% of the world's total critical mineral reserves. It's estimated that the Congo is responsible for 70% of global cobalt output and approximately 50% of the globe's reserves. In fact, the demand for cobalt, a key ingredient in most lithium-ion batteries, is rapidly increasing because of its use in everything from cell phones to electric vehicles. As for copper, Africa has two of the world's top producers, with Zambia accounting for 70% of the continent's output. "This transition," adds the IMF, "if managed properly, has the potential to transform the region." And, of course, it won't be pretty.
While such critical minerals might be mined in rural areas of the Congo and Zambia, they must reach the international marketplace to become profitable, which makes Angola and the Lobito Corridor key to Africa's booming mining industry.
In 2024, China committed $4.5 billion to African lithium mines alone and another $7 billion to investments in copper and cobalt mining infrastructure. In the Congo, for example, China controls 70% of the mining sector.
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