2025 comes to an end: A year of transitions and hope

31.12.2025.- For the Justice in Mining network, 2025 has been a year of transitions and small steps forward that give us reason to remain hopeful. Hope is more necessary than ever in a world marked by growing political polarization, the return of geopolitics, climate denialism, and hate speech against migrants and refugees. In our last post of the year, we invite you to look back on some of those moments: the darkest ones, but also those that light our way.

A turbulent year

Hope cannot be built by denying reality, no matter how painful that reality may be. In 2025, the world has experienced a surge in international conflict. Ukraine and Gaza have dominated the headlines, showing the depths of indignity that human beings can reach. But many other forgotten wars have also intensified in Sudan, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. In addition to the loss of human lives, there are the broken lives of hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their homes and been forced to seek refuge. While all this is happening, many countries are militarizing their borders, and the drums of war are sounding, threatening to bring violence to new territories.

In this context, we have witnessed a significant change that directly challenges those of us who work alongside communities affected by mining and extractivism. The argument of the necessary energy transition, used in recent years to accelerate the extraction of critical minerals—such as lithium, cobalt, copper, and rare earths—is giving way to a new narrative that links these resources to the arms industry, national security, and strategic autonomy. In a context where geopolitics seems to prevail over territories, it is more urgent than ever to assert the right of local communities to decide their own future and to ask the necessary questions—who benefits from this mining? How will it impact our lives?—no matter how uncomfortable they may be.

Precisely for asking questions like these and defending life and territory, at least 145 people were killed in 2024, most of them (82%) in Latin America. According to estimates by Global Witness, author of the report, it is estimated that since 2012 there have been more than 2,200 victims for the sole crime of asserting their rights. It is impossible not to recall the prophetic voice of Pope Francis, whom we also bid farewell this year, as he denounced the unsustainability of “an economy that kills.” The deaths of each and every one of these people, and the pain inflicted on their communities and territories, are the result of an economic system that puts profit and private interests above human life and the common good. It is everyone’s job to build other, more just and sustainable ways of relating to our neighbors and our common home.

Reasons for hope

The 30th climate summit (COP30) held in Belém do Pará (Brazil) from November 10 to 21 also left us with images of hope. For more than a year, hundreds of organizations have been preparing to participate in the official negotiations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, as well as in the People’s Summit (November 12-14), which brought together thousands of community leaders, trade unionists, indigenous representatives, Afro-descendants, and activists from various social movements and civil society organizations.

The frustration expressed by much of the press regarding the final COP30 document, which avoids any reference to abandoning fossil fuels, contrasts with the spirit of collaboration and solidarity that was experienced in Belém. Although Brazil, as the host country, has made a significant effort to include as many voices as possible in the negotiations, there is still much to be done. At COP30, for example, environmental organizations have denounced the participation of around 1,600 oil lobbyists in the negotiations, while only 360 indigenous representatives were accredited to access the blue zone.

The images of a group of indigenous leaders breaking through the security cordon at the entrance at the end of the first week remind us that the voices of those most exposed to the climate crisis and its consequences continue to be marginalized. Until ways are found to streamline decision-making procedures and ensure that all voices are heard within the corridors of power, the outcomes of the COPs will continue to be disappointing for many and subject to criticism by most.

And yet, despite the slow progress made in the official negotiations, we cannot underestimate it. Nor can we ignore the thousands of people who took part in the climate march to send a loud and clear message: nature is not a commodity! Farmers, trade unions, indigenous peoples, grassroots organizations, youth groups, feminist collectives, and countless other social movements and groups will continue to do what they have always done: resist and offer alternatives for the advancement of rights, the protection of the planet, and the defense of life.

Similarly, it is worth noting the massive presence of Catholic churches at COP30, represented by lay people, religious orders, cardinals, bishops, clergy, pastoral movements, youth organizations, NGOs, and many others. The result of this convergence has been the publication of a joint statement in which around 400 Catholic organizations from around the world, including our Justicia en Minería network, renew their commitment to caring for our common home and ecological conversion. In light of these underlying movements, we can say that COP30 may have ended, but the spirit of unity in diversity forged in Belém will remain with us for a long time to come.

Walking together towards 2026

In 2025, the Justice in Mining network has managed to keep hope alive thanks to the participation of representatives from each Jesuit Conference in the network’s core group. The testimony of their work and the collective effort to connect the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN) with social centers, universities, and Jesuit organizations around the world that promote socio-environmental justice in contexts affected by mining have been fundamental in consolidating this common mission.

Thanks to their efforts, in the first half of the year we were able to update the network’s thematic priority mapping. We received responses from 21 institutions, which helped us identify three clear thematic priorities for the coming years: 1) the promotion of integral ecology in contexts affected by mining; 2) the protection of human rights and environmental defenders; and 3) the need to rethink energy transitions from a socio-environmental justice perspective.

The network also actively contributed to the Jesuits for Climate Justice Campaign leading up to COP30, promoted by the Integral Ecology Network and supported by the Secretariat for Social Justice and Ecology (SJES). Thanks to the support of the Alboan Foundation and Jesuiten Weltweit, it was possible to finance the participation of two people in the Jesuit delegation sent to COP30 in Belém. Together with organizations such as Amazon Watch, MISEREOR, and CARF, we participated in a roundtable discussion in the “blue zone” on critical minerals and energy transitions, and we were present in other alternative spaces, strengthening networks and alliances that allow us, together with other actors, to continue building a more just and sustainable world.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the people, communities, and institutions that have made this shared journey possible during 2025. We trust that 2026 will find us strengthening alliances, deepening our commitment, and renewing our hope in the construction of socio-environmental justice that places the dignity of people and the care of our Common Home at the center.