The global race for critical minerals is outpacing many countries’ ability to govern it, reshaping development finance, ESG standards, procurement opportunities, governance systems, and community protection efforts across the Global South.
As governments compete to secure supplies of lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earths for the green energy transition and digital infrastructure, major deals are being signed at speed. In February alone, more than 50 countries gathered in Washington, producing more than 11 critical minerals agreements in a single convening. At the same time, the United States, the European Union, and China are intensifying competition for access and influence, while mineral-rich countries across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia face mounting pressure to align before adequate protections are in place.
For development professionals and governments, this is not a distant geopolitical issue. It is actively reshaping where public and development finance flows, which sectors will be disrupted or attract investment, what governance and community protection gaps will emerge, how ESG commitments are enforced, and whether mineral-producing economies can capture lasting value or remain trapped in extractive models that export raw materials while profits accumulate elsewhere.
To unpack these questions, DevelopmentAid invites NGOs, consultants, ESG specialists, environmentalists, government agencies, contractors, and development finance actors to join its interactive Ask Me Anything, Ask the Experts live session, Green Colonialism or Green Opportunity? Inside the Critical Minerals Rush and What Development Actors Must Do Now, featuring Dr. Thea Riofrancos, one of the world’s leading researchers on the political, socioeconomic, and environmental dimensions of critical mineral extraction and author of Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. The session will take place on 18 June 2026 at 4:00 PM. Brussels / 10:00 AM, Washington, DC.
Drawing on more than a decade of field research across Latin America, Europe, and the USA, Dr. Riofrancos will respond directly to participants’ pre-submitted questions with grounded analysis and practical insight into the challenges development actors are confronting now.
Key Takeaways
- Practical insight into why development and public finance are rapidly flowing into critical mineral regions and what this means for future development programming and investment.
- Expert perspective on how the critical minerals boom is reshaping governance, ESG priorities, and the operating environment for governments, NGOs, consultants, contractors, and financial institutions.
- Grounded analysis of the governance, regulatory, and community risks most likely to affect projects, partnerships, and ESG compliance in extractive contexts.
- Real-world insight into whether mineral-producing economies can move up the value chain, drawing on lessons from Latin America and other resource-rich regions.
Featured Speaker
Associate Professor of Political Science, Providence College | Researcher and Author, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism
Thea is a political scientist and leading expert on the global political economy of the energy transition, with a focus on critical minerals, extractive governance, and the uneven impacts of the green transition.
Her research examines how rising demand for critical minerals is reshaping investment flows, governance systems, and power relations across the Global North and South. She has conducted extensive field research in lithium-producing regions, analyzing how mining expansion is reshaping local economies, environmental governance, and community rights, while tracking where value from the green transition is ultimately captured.
Thea is the author of Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, a widely cited work on critical minerals, climate justice, and extractivism, and she contributes actively to debates on supply chains, ESG frameworks, and just transition policies.
She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and is based at Providence College in the United States, where she teaches and continues her research. She is also co-director of the Climate + Community Institute and a fellow at the Transnational Institute focused on equitable approaches to decarbonization.
Host
Lydia Gichuki
External relations and events coordinator
