released a report “Recharging Community Consent: Mining companies, battery minerals, and the battle to break from the past” which concludes “in general the battery mineral sector’s approach to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) is not sufficiently ready to support a just energy transition under current company policies.”

To address this unreadiness, Oxfam unequivocally endorses IRMA, “Major lithium producers need to be recognized as being some of the first to undertake credible, third-party assurance of their social and environmental performance, including FPIC implementation, in accordance with the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA).” It also gives kudos to those lithium producers that have audited their operations against the IRMA Standard.