Lithium into Climate Governance: Corporate Geopolitics, Regulatory Flexibility and Spillover Effects

Abstract

The article analyzes the links between lithium exploitation in the Jequitinhonha Valley and the energy transition, examining how these processes are inscribed within the logic of ecological modernization and the so-called “decarbonization consensus”. Drawing on a qualitative methodology that combines document analysis, fieldwork and ethnography of public hearings and meetings, the study observes the consolidation of a corporate geopolitics built around the celebratory narrative of the “Lithium Valley” and through the hope of prosperity anchored in market to the climate crisis. By revisiting the historical trajectory of sustainable development as a legitimizing narrative, the text demonstrates that the current model of energy transition does not break with the pattern of neo-extractivism but rather updates it. Legal reforms, regulatory flexibilization and parliamentary coalitions converge to accelerate licensing, reduce market uncertainties and align the rhythms of politics with capital. Based on the theoretical perspective of political ecology and environmental justice, the article shows how the so-called “spillover effects” transcend physical and socioeconomic impacts, reaching regulatory frameworks, democratic practices and territorial rights. It concludes that, under the rhetoric of “mining for the climate” the energy transition reproduces environmental inequalities and naturalizes the formation of new sacrifice zones.