Can Norwegian batteries contribute to a just transition in the global South?

Widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage solutions based on renewables are spurring a new wave of industrialization in Norway and Europe built around the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries. Norwegian and European battery manufacturers are quickly ramping up production but need critical raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel from mining-intensive countries in Africa, Latin America and southeast Asia.

At the same time, these global South countries are asking to be more than just sites of mineral extraction, and want to kickstart their own green industries in these sectors, from production of active materials to manufacturing of batteries and EVs. Green industrialization would enable them to capture more economic and social value for their citizens, and to mitigate the social and environmental costs of mining more effectively. This holds the potential to increase the sustainability of the whole battery value chain and produce more just outcomes for countries that are struggling with high levels of poverty and inequality.

Can Norway develop equitable partnerships with global South countries around mining and green industrialization? Can Norwegian batteries contribute to a just transition in the global South?

Our panelists from academia, politics and industry will give us some answers.

The event is organized by the UiA-hosted global network BATJUST – Battery Justice Research Network, which brings together social scientists and sustainability scholars from five continents working on justice and transparency in battery value chains.

PANELISTS

Diana Vela Almeida: Assistant Professor in the Political Ecology of Sustainability at Utrecht University. She works on marginalisation and inequalities in global mineral value chains connected to the European Green Deal.

Lene Westgaard-Halle: Conservative Party (Høyre) MP and member of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Business and Industry. Spokesperson for trade, agriculture, space, competition and price policy.

Åsmund Aukrust: Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) MP and First Vice Chair of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

Stina Torjesen: Sustainability Director of Morrow Batteries and Associate Professor in the UiA Department of Strategy and Management.

The panel will be introduced by UiA Rector Sunniva Whittaker, and will be moderated by Vito Laterza, UiA Associate Professor in Global Development and BATJUST co-coordinator.

Concluding remarks by Morgan Scoville-Simonds, Head of the UiA Department of Global Development and Planning and BATJUST co-coordinator.