Date and Time: Thursday, 1 May 2025, from 6.00 pm
Place: UCL, LG04 in Bedford Way (26), London, WC1H 0AP GB
Decades of lead pollution in Kabwe, melting glaciers in Chile, communities displaced in South Africa and heavy metals in Peru’s rivers. Anglo American is a mining giant whose pursuit of profit at the expense of local communities and nature spans decades and continents.
The company pitches itself as a ‘company of the future’, central to the green transition by providing so-called green hydrogen. But what is its legacy in the communities and areas where it has operated and continues to extract? Today, even as the company carves up valleys in Chile, thousands of children in Zambia – in one of the world’s most polluted towns – are being poisoned by lead contamination from a huge mine that it left more than 50 years ago without cleaning up.
With its roots in South African colonialism and its track record on human rights and environmental destruction, the panel will highlight the urgent need for Anglo American to be held to account by governments and human rights institutions. How are affected communities resisting Anglo America’s destruction of ecosystems, and how can we, in the UK, stand with them in solidarity? How do we fight a corporate led energy transition that replicates centuries of colonial exploitation? How do we deliver a globally just transition that places communities, workers, and nature at its heart?
Join guests from Chile, Peru and Zambia to trace a line from Anglo American’s activities in Zambia a century ago, to its impact on communities in Chile and Peru today and its exploitative ‘green transition’ projects in South Africa. Joining us will be community members from:
- Claudio Rojas, a member of Movimiento No + Anglo in Chile, has been a social and environmental leader for more than twenty years. He will discuss the social and environmental impacts of Anglo American’s copper mines and production network in Chile.
- Lucio Flores is a representative of the platform of people affected by heavy metals in Moquegua, Peru. He will discuss the present effects and the future legacies of the Quellaveco mine.
- Bladimir Martinez is of Aymara identity, and part of the technical team of the socio-environmental area of Red Muqui, the national network that promotes the rights of communities affected by mining. He will present information on the metals extracted at the Quellaveco mine and their relationship with the water systems in the area.
- Lydia is a resident of Kabwe in Zambia, a dedicated community advocate, public servant and a potential member of the proposed class in the case filed against Anglo American South Africa.
- We will also be joined by Pascoe Sabido, a researcher and campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory in the climate justice team. He works to expose and roll back the lobby power of the oil and gas industry in Europe and at the UN. Pascoe has worked extensively to research green hydrogen production and the injustices it is fuelling globally.
📍 Let us know you’re coming by registering!
The event is organised in collaboration with Action for Southern Africa UK, and Peru Support Group.
