Energy transition risks repeating dirty business practices from the past

Global analysis has revealed severe abuse across clean energy supply chains, with links to Hyundai and Tesla. Migrant workers are facing systemic labour abuse in industries at the forefront of the energy transition. So technologies that should be creating a brighter future risk rehashing the filthy exploitation of the past.

New global analysis of hundreds of documented cases revealed failures by companies to tackle structural drivers of exploitation. This risks a transition that entrenches the same inequalities and abuses of past industrialisation.

In 2025, the Business and Human Rights Centre recorded 747 allegations of abuse against migrant workers globally. These included many with direct links to industries driving the energy transition, from critical mineral production and electric vehicle manufacturing to renewable energy infrastructure development.

There were allegations against multinationals driving elements of the energy transition, including Tesla and Hyundai (three cases each).

The analysis warns of the urgent need for companies to ensure the shift to clean energy is not only fast, but also fair. And this has to come through respect for the rights of these essential workers.

Migrant workers powering the energy transition

Migrant workers participate in every facet of the energy transition. They mine and produce nickel, cobalt and alumina for electric vehicle batteries. They install renewable energy infrastructure and manufacture electric vehicles. And they build sustainable urban development projects.

However, in 2025 alone, the Business and Human Rights Centre recorded 23 cases of migrant worker abuse in industries crucial to the energy transition:

• Transition mineral production (seven cases).
• EV supply chains (six cases).
• Sustainable urban development (three cases).
• Recycling and recommerce (three cases).
• Renewable and low-carbon energy (two cases).
• Ecotourism (one case).L
• Low-carbon cement kiln construction (one case).

Cases related to the green economy were disproportionately linked to excessive production targets and unreasonable working hours. Researchers found safety violations in over half (52%) of these cases. This is significantly higher than across the wider database (25%). And it suggests that companies may be prioritising speed over safety amid a rush to gain government green incentives and meet ambitious decarbonisation targets.

Catriona Fraser, Migrant Workers Researcher at the Business and Human Rights Centre, said:

These abuses are not isolated failures: they are the result of extractive business models that prioritise profit at the expense of human rights, including by pushing risks down opaque supply chains through subcontracting, poor purchasing practices and weak oversight.

Climate solutions cannot be built on exploitation. With the green economy expected to surpass $7tn in annual value by 2030, companies reaping huge profits from this transition must ensure the rights of migrant workers are respected.

These workers are increasingly filling labour shortages in new green jobs worldwide – and a just transition requires business models that embed respect for migrant workers’ rights at every stage of the supply chain.

A just transition is not optional – it is the foundation of a sustainable and equitable global economy. Climate goals must go hand in hand with respecting the rights of those building the future.

Climate crisis intensifies risks to migrant workers

Alongside abuses experienced in energy transition jobs, migrant workers across all sectors are exposed to compounding harms due to the climate emergency.

In 2025, workers across sectors and geographies, including in construction, agriculture and manufacturing, had to work in extreme temperatures without employers providing adequate rest, water or shade.

Workers suffered excessive heat exposure in 44 cases, most frequently in Saudi Arabia (11) and the USA (10). These included workers returning home with chronic kidney failure and dying in the heat. Wildfires in the USA (three cases) also impacted migrant workers.

Fraser added:

As extreme weather becomes more frequent and severe, companies operating in climate-vulnerable regions must be alert to the heightened safety risks to their workforces – particularly migrants, who often labour outside, at the bottom of long supply chains without sufficient protection.

Companies must urgently tackle climate-specific risks by moving beyond tick-box approaches, being alert to changing conditions and assessing risk to workers accordingly, enacting emergency protocols and working with trade unions at the forefront of new and evolving standards on combating climate risks in the world of work.

The largest multinationals at the top of global value chains have the power and responsibility to drive this change.

Featured image via the Canary