ADB’s New Approach to Mining Risks Fueling Conflict

Bank shifts stance to greenlight to extraction of critical minerals

By: Rhoda Viajar, Sukgherel Dugersuren, and Robie Halip

ADB Headquarters in Manila. ©ADB

For more than four decades, the Asian Development Bank has avoided direct investment in the mining sector. In recent years, however, with many of the world’s conflicts driven by the rush for fossil fuels and, increasingly by the demand for so-called critical minerals,…