Allegations of environmental and human rights abuse linked to the mining and processing of critical transition minerals rose sharply across Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 2025, according to new research. The Business and Human Rights Centre recorded 373 new allegations across 14 countries in 2025 – a 38% increase on the 270 recorded the previous year – as global demand for the copper, chromium, zinc and other minerals needed for the energy transition continues to grow.

The research found that workers are paying the highest price: 65% of all allegations involved harm to workers, driven overwhelmingly by occupational health and safety violations (88% of all issues experienced by workers), including 43 worker deaths recorded over the course of the year. 

Key findings included: 

• Workers are bearing the brunt, with 65% of allegations involving harm to workers, including 43 deaths.
• Occupational health and safety violations were the biggest concern, accounting for 88% of all issues experienced by workers. 
• Workers also suffered from personal health issues in 40% of allegations affecting them, including occupational diseases developed due to harmful working conditions.
• Workplace deaths were associated with 18% of allegations affecting workers, followed by injuries (17%).  
• Communities represent the second most affected group (117 allegations), accounting for 31% of all allegations.
• More than two-thirds (69%) of all cases were concentrated in Russia (147 allegations) and Ukraine (112 allegations) -- with just three companies accounting for 30% of all allegations. 
• Workers are increasingly turning to the courts to seek justice, with 28% of allegations involving lawsuits seeking remedy for workers.

Weak corporate accountability, entangled with war and sanctions

More than two-thirds (62%) of all cases were concentrated in just two countries: Russia (147 allegations) and Ukraine (112). Ukraine’s SE Eastern Mining and Processing Plant, the largest uranium mining and processing complex in Europe, recorded the highest number of allegations (68) – and nearly three times more than any other single company. This was followed by two Russian companies: Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (24 allegations) and United Company RUSAL (20 allegations). Together, these three companies accounted for 30% of all allegations recorded in the region – with all three featuring among the most-implicated companies for consecutive years.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, these supply chains have become inseparable from war and sanctions. Russian-linked companies remain embedded in EU critical mineral supply chains (examples available upon request), with sanctioned Russian oligarchs continuing to profit from facilities operating inside the EU. This raises serious concerns about how the EU’s critical minerals strategy is indirectly supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine and potentially undermining the sanctions meant to isolate Russia’s war economy. 

Costs to businesses and the EU

In 2025, 28% of all allegations involved lawsuits by or on behalf of workers seeking remedy, illustrating the scale of harm and workers’ growing willingness to seek justice. Courts repeatedly awarded compensation for occupational disease and injury, demonstrating the very real cost to businesses that fail to act. In the case of Ukraine’s SE Eastern Mining and Processing Plant, which owns three of the top six mines associated with the highest number of allegations, 2025 alone saw them facing at least 67 lawsuits seeking compensation for moral damages caused by occupational diseases.

As the EU expands its Strategic Partnerships with resource-rich countries in the region, concerns have been raised about the lack of information on how these projects will be implemented or monitored. With serious allegations recorded in nearly every country covered by its Critical Raw Materials Exploration Facility, questions remain about whether human rights and environmental risks are being adequately identified, assessed and mitigated, and whether affected communities are able to access information, participate in decisions, and seek remedy.

Ella Skybenko, Eastern Europe and Central Asia Senior Researcher, Business and Human Rights Centre, said: “The data is clear: the transition to clean energy is placing an enormous burden on workers across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with a 38% rise in allegations in a single year and dozens of lives lost. Governments and companies deepening their involvement in this region’s mineral supply chains cannot treat human rights due diligence as an afterthought or look away from the supply chains still entangled with Russia’s war economy. A transition that costs workers their lives and still enriches sanctioned oligarchs isn’t a green transition, it’s the same old extraction with a new green label.”

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Notes to editors

• Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) is a global organisation working at the intersection of business and human rights. With partners and allies worldwide, we seek to put human rights at the heart of business to deliver a just economy, climate justice, and end abuse. Find out more about our approach here.
• About this research: Since 2019, BHRC has been tracking environmental and human rights abuses linked to mining project development, extraction and processing of transition minerals in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Find out more here.