Exploring the role of alternative energy corporations in ethical supply chains and corporate peacebuilding

© 2018, Lynne Rienner Publishers. All rights reserved. A paradigmatic shift from carbon-intensive to alternative and renewable energy prompts the question of whether lessons learned in one era are forgotten in the next. Carbon-intensive industries (oil, gas, and coal) have not performed well on mitigating negative impacts on host community conflict, but alternative energy corporate actors can learn from them. Focusing on alternative energy companies, and specifically companies in supply chains for new-generation lithium-ion battery systems, this article illustrates companies’ connections to conflict minerals and critical materials, and how a corporate peacebuilding strategy can address a company’s impacts on conflict whether on the ground or through the supply chain. Companies reframing their corporate social responsibility to corporate peacebuilding, which includes peacemaking, are better prepared for expanding international conflict minerals and critical materials governance and emerging action on resource sustainable governance.