Berlin, 21.07.2026: In the context of geopolitical safeguarding of raw materials, public financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have announced that they will increasingly invest in the mining sector in the future. The EU and the Federal Government are also increasingly relying on safeguarding raw materials, for example through the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) or a planned raw materials fund. Public banks should specifically finance strategic projects and mobilise private investments as anchor investors.
One New analysis of PowerShift shows, however, that international financing standards, as well as the standards of public banks, are not sufficiently geared to the specific risks of the high-risk mining sector. They are too non-binding and are only implemented incompletely. This has serious social and environmental consequences.
Vanessa Fischer, Raw Materials Officer at PowerShift, emphasizes:
“Public financial institutions play a key role in determining whether and how mining projects are implemented. Without clear rules, global environmental and human rights conflicts threaten to escalate. A genuine turnaround in raw materials requires less primary mining, no more funding for risky projects.”
The main criticisms of the analysis are:
- Systematic transparency gaps, in particular for financing through intermediaries
- lack of accountability and weak complaint mechanisms for affected communities. This applies in particular to KfW-IPEX Bank, which so far does not have an independent complaint mechanism and urgently needs to establish one.
- Environmental and social standards, which are often only procedural and do not provide for clear consequences for infringements
The new PowerShift publication “Financing of mining: Closing gaps in standards, transparency and accountability” concludes that a substantial tightening of protection standards is urgently needed.
PowerShift therefore demands:
- Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence obligations with clear exclusion criteria for mining in environmentally particularly sensitive regions (e.g. rainforest)
- Transparency along the entire financing chain, including financial intermediaries and sub-projects
- strong, independent complaint mechanisms with access to redress
- Responsible exit rules when withdrawing from projects
- political prioritisation of circular economy and reduction of raw material consumption instead of expansion of mining
The full analysis “Financing of mining: Closing gaps in standards, transparency and accountability” can be found here from now on: https://power-shift.de/finanzierung-von-bergbau/
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:
Vanessa Fischer, Resource Policy Officer at PowerShift and author of the study, +49 (0)1575 4768413, vanessa.fischer@power-shift.de
Adrian Bornmann, Press and Public Relations Officer at PowerShift, +49 (0)30-27590497, adrian.bornmann@power-shift.de
