Central Asia’s critical raw materials (CRMs) have become a site of growing geopolitical interest in recent years. While the EU is seeking to reduce its dependence on China and other dominant suppliers, Central Asian governments are striving to build their capacities in processing and technology within the region. This project has several layers. First, it builds on previous research on resource extractivism, environmental activism, and China’s presence in Central Asia’s mining sectors. Second, it looks at the affective economies informing the current ‘rush’ for CRMs, whose securitisation and geopoliticisation risks reproducing a ‘green colonialism’ and compounding the damage caused by past resource extraction in the region. Third, it explores evolving relations between state and large corporations and their importance for old and emerging state and non-state actors, institutions, norms, discourses, and infrastructures. Finally, the project investigates whether there is a role for EU-led accountability standards in shaping new extractive zones in more sustainable ways.

• How is the diversification of mining actors in Central Asia’s CRM sectors affecting existing extractivist models in the region?
• What risks of environmental and social damage does the expansion of resource frontiers present to the region?
• Do EU-led accountability standards promise more sustainable resource development?
• How do EU CRM strategies in Central Asia fare against the background of established mining practices by state-led and Chinese enterprises?

• Review of international and national datasets, media and corporate sources
• Interviews with business and government representatives, experts, and members of affected communities
• Analysis of EU and Central Asian discourses and policies
• Fieldwork at mining sites