The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) released its weekly brief on November 29, 2025, exposing human rights abuses fueling China’s green energy expansion, with Uyghur forced labor central to solar panels, batteries, and mineral extraction in East Turkistan and Tibet. Drawing from a November 21 Coda report, the brief condemns global silence at COP30, where China’s dominance evades scrutiny despite reliance on exploitative practices. Tibet’s environment warms twice as fast as the global average, accelerating mining for lithium and titanium, while over one million Uyghurs face mass detention and state-imposed labor transfers into production chains. The 2022 Urumchi Fire, killing over 40 Uyghurs under lockdowns and sparking protests rivaling Tiananmen, remains uninvestigated by Beijing, underscoring repression tied to these industries.
This analysis highlights how China’s renewable push, projected to grow solar capacity by 450% by 2030, intersects with forced labor programs resembling prisons, where Uyghurs undergo “re-education through labour.” WUC, as the first Uyghur group at COP30, amplified these issues amid participant indifference, noting
“COP30 overlooks China’s human rights violations”
in its November 28 update. United Nations reports confirm “serious human rights violations” in Xinjiang, including arbitrary detentions and family separations potentially amounting to crimes against humanity.
Forced Labor in Solar and Battery Supply Chains
China’s solar industry controls nearly the global polysilicon supply, with Xinjiang producing half, yet tainted by Uyghur forced labor from internment camps feeding into automated factories near coal plants with China’s worst air quality. Labor transfers target over two million Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, producing panels vital for limiting warming to 1.5°C under the Paris Agreement, but powered by “dirty” coal and poor conditions. Global carmakers like Tesla, BYD, Toyota, and Volkswagen risk complicity through aluminum chains linked to these programs, as supply chains remain unaddressed.
The Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region warns that
“the ongoing human rights crisis poses a severe challenge to a just transition,”
urging due diligence under United Nations Guiding Principles. China’s responses deny allegations, claiming poverty alleviation and automation negate labor needs, while labeling sanctions as disruptions to climate cooperation. H.R.2635, the 2025 Uyghur Policy Act, condemns the “Strike Hard against Violent Extremism” campaign since 2014 for enabling violations under extremism pretexts. This forced labor system, the world’s largest state-imposed, extends to EV batteries and critical minerals, complicating Western green goals.
Environmental Devastation and Regional Exploitation
Tibet’s accelerated warming doubles global rates, intensifying mineral extraction for green tech under Chinese control, where ecological harm compounds human rights abuses. Xinjiang’s coal-dependent factories undermine solar’s climate benefits, with low power rates enabling cheap production at human and environmental costs. WUC’s brief ties these to intensified CCP campaigns, with democratic nations complicit through silence. At the Halifax Security Forum, WUC Executive Chair Rushan Abbas contextualized the genocide, stating
“Uyghur genocide, assimilation policies, and her sister Dr. Gulshan’s imprisonment must end,”
linking personal repression to industrial scales.
United Nations High Commissioner Volker Türk’s 2022 assessment flagged policies risking crimes against humanity, calling for updates amid ongoing issues. China’s Paris Agreement pledges—peak emissions by 2030, neutrality by 2060—contrast with coal reliance and labor exploitation, as its National Strategy on Climate Adaptation ignores these linkages. Global installations hit records at 185 gigawatts in 2025, enough for Brazil, yet half Xinjiang-sourced, perpetuating the cycle.
Global Inaction and Policy Responses
COP30’s oversight exemplifies hypocrisy, as China’s “green future is built on Uyghur suffering,” per WUC’s presence there, demanding justice over indifference. The United Nations Human Rights Council receives Coalition submissions pressing China to end systematic forced labor, doubting ILO ratification sincerity. Beijing rejects UPR recommendations, refuting ethnic-targeted labor claims and accusing the West of plots. Human Rights Watch demands halting
“all state-imposed forced labor programs to which Uyghurs are subjected,”
alongside detainee releases and UN access.
Western supply chains tie to this minerals boom, with Republicans urging enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act over green priorities. China’s $7 billion polysilicon fund responds to scrutiny, but repression endures, as PV shipments face detentions pre-COP26. WUC’s advocacy, from EU dialogues to forums, exposes transnational repression, sustaining pressure.
Implications for Just Energy Transition
Uyghur forced labor challenges the just transition, where renewables risk illegitimacy without addressing rights under United Nations principles. Businesses face ESG threats from tainted chains, needing ethical sourcing to meet net-zero targets. This analysis reveals complicity risks for consumers, firms, and governments prioritizing speed over ethics in the solar surge.
Prosecuting officials, independent probes, and expanded acts like H.R.2635 offer paths forward, as global outrage deepens. WUC’s weekly efforts ensure visibility, urging a rights-respecting shift. Failure invites perpetuation of atrocities powering the world’s green ambitions.
