This article examines India’s energy transition agenda, which the central government drives to reduce the impact of climate change through the development of renewable energy. It presents a case study of the ‘Oran Land’ in the Thar desert in India, which is affected by the country’s energy transition agenda. It further highlights issues relating to human rights infringement linked to corporations undertaking the transition and operating in the ‘Orans’—a community-protected land. The article concludes with discussions on legislative developments in India and global best practices that seek to mainstream human rights into business practice and further strengthen compliance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Towards the end of his book, African Philosophical Adventures, John Murungi laments the injurious impact of Western epistemological hegemony on the humanity and well-being of non-Western peoples and societies, especially Africans. He describes the ensuing situation as a crisis about what it means to be called human or to have the right to exist as human in the twenty-first century: Today, human rights are in a state of crisis and this crisis is fundamentally the crisis of being human. … [The] planetary mode of being has fallen under the tyrannical regime of Euro-Western anthropology. The voice of African anthropology, as is the case with other non-Euro-Western voices of anthropology, remains muted. Africans, particularly, have been reduced to beggars in matters of hermeneutics and understanding of being human. They have been compelled and are even today compelled to look up to Euro-West for assistance in self-understanding. In matters that pertain to self-understanding they look for foreign aid. …Having been voided of what they [Africans] are and of the ability for self-understanding they are compelled to look outside themselves to make sense of themselves. (142–43)

This paper seeks to understand He Xinyin’s reassessment of the notion of friendship and its subversive dimension in several of his major essays. This reassessment was part of an increase in discourses on friendship in China in the 16th-17th centuries, which was in some ways prompted by the decay of traditional structures, particularly the family structure, that served as the basis for the social functioning of the empire. He Xinyin was one of the most innovative and radical thinkers whose redefinition allowed friendship to take, for the first time, a foremost place among the five social relations, to be conceived as a subjective relationship where the individual emerges as a primary entity, and to form the ground of two major freedoms, the freedom of expression and the freedom of association.

“My first contact with Rod Feldmann was his voicemail message: ‘An incredible set of circumstances makes it impossible for me to come to the phone right now. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.’ I was considering coming to Kent for graduate school and I thought, ‘Wow, this guy is either really important or really arrogant.’ I was right and wrong. He was never arrogant, but always important, and eventually of utmost importance to me.

The Paris Agreement’s commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has resulted in an uptick in environmental laws and regulations. However, such state conduct could implicate other legal obligations and norms, including international investment law and international human rights law. The conversation about human rights, net-zero and investment treaties, including arbitration cases and arbitral awards under the treaties, is in its relative infancy. This article examines how investment treaties are equipped to reconcile relevant norms with a particular focus on corporate codes and policies that pronounce broad commitments to protecting human rights and the environment. It establishes certain principles to guide parties and arbitral tribunals as to the codes while recognizing the inevitable challenges they will face.

Brain Health Services are second-generation memory clinics that aim to reduce the risk of progression to dementia in at-risk individuals. We describe the rationale for such a service, and comment on its novel implementation by Venkataraman and colleagues that integrates digital technologies and biomarker testing. We describe the advantages and possible limitations of such an approach, then investigate areas for further work – namely, the need to account for multiple pathologies in biomarker testing and to formulate standards for genetic counselling.

Reflecting on the civil claim filed in France under the French Duty of Vigilance law (LdV) by members of the Union Hidalgo community in Mexico against the energy company Electricité de France (EDF), this article explores interactions between human rights due diligence in renewable energy projects. The lawsuit is one of the first cases brought under the LdV, and the first case claiming violations of Indigenous rights. The rights violations experienced by the community—the lack of free, prior and informed consent and violence against human rights defenders—epitomize the reality of harmful corporate tactics in the energy and extractive industries. Whereas the LdV enshrines a process through which communities affected by harmful corporate practices can access transnational legal avenues for redress, inconsistencies and ambiguities within the law call into question its ability to effectively regulate the human rights activities of French corporations involved in renewable energy projects.

This paper addresses the links between alchemy, mining and religion in the early modern alchemical iconography of the German mining theorist Martin Sturtz. He created a special version of the prayer Vaterunser (Our Father) for miners and metallurgists and used the images from Christian and alchemical iconography to demonstrate the history of the creation of metals and how they grow inside the Earth. In one of his images, the Saviour is crucified against the background of coloured strips or stripes, symbolizing the seven metals inside a sedimentary complex. In another miniature, the blood spilling from his wound gives rise to ore veins in which metals ripen. These and the other iconographical and textual examples from Sturtz’s treatises show the attempt to connect the mining process with alchemical theory and Christian religion. This paper will shed light on the origins of this unusual alchemical imagery and its connection with other alchemical and theological works, especially those by Paul Lautensack.

The scramble to extract critical energy transition minerals creates risk of widespread negative human rights impacts. A just transition in the extraction of critical minerals must involve deep examination of the mine-community interface to gain a better understanding of the drivers of successful engagement between mining companies and communities. Drawing on fieldwork in South America’s lithium triangle, this paper finds that the nature of the corporate-community relationship is increasingly key to enabling a just transition whereby communities participate in the benefits of extraction with negative impacts mitigated. It establishes that key success factors are related to empowerment of Indigenous communities and have the potential to maximise positive outcomes for communities in the context of lithium extraction. Governments and companies must embed a more bottom-up process with an end goal of communities themselves defining the parameters of what a just transition means in the critical minerals context.

This article examines the concept of just energy transition in the context of Africa. It explores two key imperatives: (1) social inclusion and (2) an environmental rights-based approach to promote just energy transitions within African countries. The article looks at social inclusion from the perspective of local communities that host energy infrastructures, highlighting potential injustices and negative impacts that may arise from the energy transition. It further argues that social inclusion and environmental rights-based approaches can be useful tools for achieving just energy transitions in Africa. The article also analyses strategies that underpin social inclusion and environmental rights-based approaches within the governance and legal frameworks for energy transition projects in Africa, including empowering local communities to ensure the transition aligns with their socio-economic standing. The article suggests that adopting socially inclusive and environmental rights-based imperatives are significant steps towards overcoming and addressing injustices in energy transition projects in Africa.

African countries have increasingly emphasized adopting lower carbon, more efficient and environmentally responsible energy systems. Despite these efforts, little progress has been made in addressing the adverse human rights impacts of energy transition programs and projects, and the responsibilities of extractive sector corporations and operators. Existing legal and institutional frameworks supporting human rights face hindrances in adapting to local contexts to pursue clean energy transition and energy justice. Through the lens of community engagement, gender equality and other rights-based approaches, this article argues that socially excluding vulnerable groups in accessing energy markets is primarily a function of consolidating energy delivery in a way that navigates current discrimination and responds to the central roles played by different actors. The article explores how energy is produced, extracted, distributed and shared to help outline a future agenda for shaping discussions on just transitions in Africa, emphasizing the prioritization of fairness in these efforts.