As Covid-19 forces an oil surplus and lowered production, there are opportunities to enact such changes - particularly by redirecting oil industry labor toward the growing problem of well decommissioning.Canada's Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA) is the culmination of a series of proposals and consultations with government, industry and civil society organizations to address conflict over Canadian extractive industry. Created in the context of a global call for extractive industry accountability, as well as increasing scrutiny of Canadian mining activities for alleged human rights and environmental abuses, the ESTMA aims to deter corruption via financial reporting requirements for Canadian extractive firms operating in Canada and abroad. By mandating that firms publicly disclose payments to various levels of government, however, the ESTMA is constructed atop global corruption discourse that identifies host states in the Global South as the source of social pathologies that facilitate corruption, largely excluding a critical analysis of extractive firms in the Global North. Drawing on interviews, document analysis of material related to the ESTMA and case studies of extractive firm financial reporting, this paper argues that under the ESTMA's financial reporting processes, corporate risk management trumps meaningful social regulation. While the Act does mandate disclosures useful to the advocacy community, limited oversight, a lack of standardized reporting and excluded activities under the Act mean that the ESTMA offers limited leverage to substantively address the human and ecological cost of Canada's extractive industry. As has resulted from transparency policies more broadly, however, the ESTMA provides firms a means to counter broader critique and, in complying with audit culture, promotes investment security.This special section Beyond Transparency Rethinking the Government of Extraction examines the relationship between international transparency discourse in the extractive sector, and the persistent association of unaccountable government, socioeconomic injustice and ongoing environmental hazards associated with extractive firms and their operations. Our critical analyses of transparency- situate the discourse and practice within the overall turn-of-millennium regulatory capture of states in the global North - including Canada, the US and the UK - by oil and mining industry interests. Contributors probe how transparency regimes have been applied to oil and extractive sector 'host states' in the global South, in particular Nigeria, while the rent-seeking practices that these regimes seek to expose are rarely tied to corporate malfeasance in the North. We employ this introduction to consider global transparency discourse and regulatory regimes in the light of the full cost of extraction. Since the turn of the millennium, we argue, attention to extraction's full costs have been largely overshadowed in policy discourse via global transparency regimes, notably the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.Since the 1970s, environmentalists have warned that overconsumption, especially of minerals and fossil fuels, will lead to resource depletion. But there are compelling reasons to question the assertion that we are running out. On the one hand, new technologies and discoveries have increased the supply of petroleum and natural gas. On the other, concerns about global climate change and the competitiveness of renewable energy are turning coal into a sunset industry and threaten to transform oil reserves into stranded assets. In contrast to fossil fuels, which are consumed in the process of generating energy, virtually all of the metals excavated in the past remain available even after they have been put to use. Even though the average size and degree of mineralization of recently-discovered ore bodies is on the decline, there has never been as much copper, silver, and gold available for human consumption as there is today. Whether incorporated into digital technology or infrastructure, the majority of metals remain available for recycling, which is generally less expensive, uses less energy, and has fewer environmental impacts than extracting minerals from the earth. The threat posed by climate change from continued use of fossil fuels, and the impacts of environmental degradation caused by resource extraction, demand greater attention than the misleading specter of peak oil or running out of metals.It is a fundamental objective to transition towards a low-carbon economy worldwide which is supported by an international legal agreement - the 2015 Paris Agreement. In order to achieve this ambition, there is a need for new and more mineral extraction which is necessary for the technology for this low-carbon transition. These minerals are known as critical minerals and this article examines the role of justice needed in their development. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/pnd-1186-vs-4718.html The literature to-date lacks any holistic yet focused examination of the key elements of justice in the development of this industry. This conceptual article makes an original contribution that utilises an interdisciplinary perspective, legal geography, and explores key issues of justice that include distributive, procedural, restorative, recognition and cosmopolitan. The research identifies the key questions that need to be resolved under each element of justice and the unfortunate limited timeframes for action. Critical justice areas include taxation, environmental impact assessments, waste management, social license to operate, and cross-border actions. Resolving these issues will directly address societal issues of inequality and ensure a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Already there is a global race for critical minerals, and justice needs a stronger role in its development based on evidence to-date.The aim of this paper is to present a brief historical analysis of the Australian mining industry and the development of its social licence to operate. Commencing with the discovery of coal in the 18th century, to gold and copper and base metals in the 19th century, to the world class iron ore, mineral sands and diamond mines of the 20th century to the current day, the paper will attempt to determine how and why an industry, formerly well-respected by the public, is considered to be a pariah in the eyes of many sections of society. The theory of social licence and its use in the Australian minerals industry is briefly described and a working definition of "an honest, transparent engagement resulting in a beneficial outcome to all parties before, during and after mining" is adopted throughout the paper. Case studies illustrating examples where mining operations were, and continue to be sustained for decades, provide clear evidence of having a social licence to operate. On the other hand, examples are provided illustrating where poor environmental management practices, tailings dam failures, disputes with landowners, and/or government intervention have resulted in the loss of the social licence and early, unplanned closure.