Ambientalismo minerário e a construção do discurso da transição energética

Abstract

Throughout this dissertation, it is argued that the mining sector has successively coopted different demands mobilized by its critics and adapted these arguments to its interests. Examples of this cooptation can be identified in relation to environmental protection, respect for human rights, the promotion of sustainable development and the fight against climate change. More recently, this process has been associated with the defense of a possible energy transition. This appropriation illustrates how neoliberal proposals have proved incapable of dealing with the environmental crisis, which is seen as a manifestation of the society-nature crisis. This is largely the result of strategies by companies in the sector to legitimize extractive activities and build a public image of being environmentally responsible in the eyes of different social groups. To this end, the research was carried out using bibliographic and documentary analysis and organized around three main questions. Firstly, it discusses how different socio-economic contexts influence the construction of environmental claims. Next, it discusses how the mining sector has coopted these claims over time. Finally, it illustrates this appropriation in the debate on the energy transition, using the case of the mining company Sigma Lithium as an example.