‘This Moment Counts for Reinvention and Resilience, Not Retreat’: Anticorruption Priorities in Mining

By its very nature, the fight against corruption is a difficult task. Those who engage in corrupt practices often wield significant power, using it to silence or intimidate those who seek change. But giving up the fight against corruption is not an option if we want to build a fairer future, and high risks surrounding transition minerals poses a major challenge to a just energy transition. Working together is essential to counter the growing challenges anticorruption actors face, especially in an increasingly hostile political climate.

NRGI recently hosted a webinar to launch its report Ten Red Flags for Corruption Risk in Transition Minerals Licensing and Contracting. During the event, we heard from civil society actors, law enforcement officials, investigative journalists and members of the investor community about the corruption they encounter in their work, and how best to tackle it. Three key themes emerged:

• Collaboration is key: As political commitment to anticorruption and sustainability falters, the need to work collaboratively, and better understand the role of markets and actors with financial leverage in driving change, is crucial.
• Broadening our definition of corruption: We need to ensure we pay more attention to state capture, and the gap between those who benefit from the energy transition and those who suffer its impacts.
• Protecting civic space is urgent: All actors must step up to protect civic space and fundamental freedoms, which are under perilous threat in many countries where minerals are extracted.

Read final reflections below from our panellists on what they consider the most important changes needed to tackle corruption in the mining sector, and to stay motivated despite difficult headwinds.

Ketakandriana Rafitoson, Executive Director of Publish What You Pay

‘Backsliding on the FCPA and sustainability regulations is sending the message to companies that they can prioritize profit over people. But there are pillars of anticorruption standards left standing, such as the UN Convention Against Corruption, which should be updated to include considerations around the extractive industries. This is essential to protect future generations, who will be the ultimate losers of this backsliding. That is who we must keep fighting for. It isn’t an easy fight, but we need to keep advocating for strong transparency and anticorruption measures in licensing and contracting processes.

And civil society needs to be smart, we need to engage more with investors and financial institutions to ensure that they apply responsible business practices and conduct rigorous due diligence. While the loss of U.S. leadership is a setback, civil society has never relied solely on one country or funding stream to drive change. The response must be to adapt, strengthen regional coordination, and find new avenues for accountability in an increasingly hostile landscape. This moment counts for reinvention and resilience, not retreat.’

Dian Patria, KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission, Indonesia)

‘When we talk about corruption in mining we have to think about two things. We need to talk about corruption in the form of state capture, and corruption in the form of bribery. State capture is not easy to investigate because it is embedded in the way regulations are made, so this is the biggest challenge for us. But when we talk about corruption in mining, we need to make sure that we are not only considering bribery. In Indonesia there have been concerning regulatory developments, and we need to look more closely at these as at risk of state capture. For example, universities and religious institutions are now able to acquire mining permits. Another example is that there is no non-tax revenue for cobalt in Indonesia, unlike nickel.

For me, market and public pressure are a key part of the answer to this problem, as is ensuring that only legally mined minerals can be sold on the market. This is an area where global action is needed, because it can help generate the political will needed for change within mineral producing countries.’

Léa Peruchon, Forbidden Stories

‘Today, two thirds of the world’s natural resources are extracted in countries where press freedom is in very serious danger, such as Iran, China, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and DRC. We need more access to information, more reporting, and more cross-border collaborations.’

Dr Stephen Barrie, Church of England Pensions Board

‘Transparency in the mining sector is a means rather than an end in itself; its usefulness relies on disclosures being analyzed, used, interrogated and for that to be done broadly by all parts of civil society, as well as investors and companies themselves. Related to this, it is important for investors to recognize that we have responsibilities and opportunities to set robust expectations and standards on responsible business conduct. We have an interest in protecting civic space, in addressing corruption and in supporting flourishing civil society more broadly, connected to our investments. These are two connected points that the investor community can take forward to support anticorruption efforts in this space.’

Aaron Sayne, NRGI

‘My point may seem big picture but I think it is important to make: we need to reinvigorate and broaden what we mean by corruption. Right now, we can see all sorts of actors – governments, companies, investors, courts, some media and donors – describing corruption very narrowly. Essentially, they describe it as financial crime or bribery and treat it as a sort of passe topic. But I think we need to push back against that, especially in the transition minerals space, and ask more broadly: who is this transition really for? Who really benefits? And who bears most of the cost? If the gap between those two groups is too broad, that is itself strong evidence of corruption. Because it shows that entrusted public power is being abused for private gain. We should think about it like that, and talk about it like that, even if we can’t prove that some crime happened.’

Watch the full webinar for more insights from our panelists: