UN climate summit pushes electrification goal as groups call for mining safeguards

Clean public transport. Energy-efficient buildings. Affordable energy.

Those are a few of the things the president of the UN climate talks — known as COP31 — asked global leaders, delegates and climate activists to pledge as part of the global electrification plan laid out during the world’s largest annual climate summit.

But environmental and human rights organizations caution that without strong safeguards, the mining boom for the minerals and metals needed to make the power lines, batteries, wind turbines and other energy infrastructure that can make the pledge a reality could have serious environmental and human rights impacts across the globe.