SIRGE Coalition Recommendations to Ensure Electric Vehicle Compliance with Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
“The expansion and operation of EV supply chains, regardless of whether demand accelerates or stabilizes, does not alter the applicability of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Market conditions, strategic minerals narratives, and multi-tier sourcing structures do not diminish corporate responsibility where extraction or sourcing affects Indigenous Peoples’ lands, territories, or resources.” – Recommendations to Ensure Electric Vehicle Compliance with Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Free, Prior and Informed Consent, SIRGE Coalition
Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing continues to drive demand for transition minerals and correlating mining and infrastructure needs. With this demand expected to continue for the foreseeable future, SIRGE Coalition updated its recommendations to ensure compliance from EV manufacturers with Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
Recommendations lead with the applicability internationally recognized Indigenous Peoples’ rights including the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). “Where projects or sourcing activities affect Indigenous Peoples’ lands, territories, or resources, companies have a responsibility to respect those rights, independently of State conduct, including the requirement to engage in self-determined, culturally appropriate, and good-faith processes consistent with FPIC throughout the full project and supply chain lifecycle,” says the article
Detailing risk categories and rights-respecting requirements , SIRGE Coalition recommends companies:
Ensure rigorous supply chain due diligence
Ensure early, meaningful and ongoing engagement with Indigenous Peoples
Strengthen transparency, disclosure, and accountability
Build equitable partnerships and shared governance
Invest in training, capacity building, and remedy
The recommendations “reflect the increasing expectations of supply chain due diligence, including the use of scoring and tiering methodologies by standards bodies, downstream buyers, and investors, alongside expanding traceability requirements and heightened regulatory and investor scrutiny. They outline how automakers and downstream buyers are expected to align with international standards and emerging best practices to ensure meaningful protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights.”
The article concludes:
EV automakers should integrate Indigenous Peoples' rights into their due diligence systems, scoring methodologies, procurement decisions, and supplier accountability to align with emerging best practices and mitigate material, legal, reputational, operational, and financial risks. Respecting Indigenous Peoples as rights-holders, rather than merely as stakeholders, will better position companies to secure long-term supply stability, investor confidence, and public trust.
For supply chains to be truly sustainable, they must have the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples. By prioritizing and securing this consent, companies can proactively minimize conflict, support Indigenous Peoples' self-determination and decision-making authority, reduce the risk of persistent conflict, and contribute at the same time significantly to more legitimate, stable, and rights-respecting supply chains within a just transition.
Tallgrass Institute supported drafting the recommendations with the SIRGE Coalition and coalition members Earthworks, Cultural Survival, Batini Foundation, Voices, and International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.