Toxic Metals in a Green Transition: Global Health Risks, Sources, and Policy Responses—Insights from the Munich Toxic Metals Symposium 2025

Background: The global energy transition toward climate neutrality is driving rapid growth in the demand for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. While indispensable for decarbonization, their extraction, processing, and recycling expose workers, communities, and ecosystems to toxic metals, including lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and manganese, raising significant public health concerns.

Objectives: This article synthesizes evidence presented at the Toxic Metals Symposium 2025 in Munich to assess health impacts, exposure pathways, and policy challenges related to toxic metals in the green energy transition.

Methods: The analysis integrates findings from multidisciplinary studies presented at the symposium, including environmental monitoring, biomonitoring, occupational health research, and policy assessments across multiple geographic contexts.

Findings: Evidence from mining regions, informal recycling hubs, and urban areas demonstrates widespread and persistent exposure to toxic metals from both legacy and ongoing sources. Lead and mercury are linked to impaired cognitive development in children, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, hypertension, and anemia. Arsenic and cadmium exposures are associated with increased cancer risk and renal dysfunction. Occupational studies report cobalt and nickel exposures exceeding safety thresholds, even in modern battery recycling facilities. Emerging research highlights cumulative, low-dose, and transgenerational effects, particularly among vulnerable populations. Although advances in monitoring technologies and community biomonitoring improve detection, weak regulatory enforcement and the prevalence of informal sectors continue to limit risk reduction.

Conclusions: Managing toxic metal risks is essential for a just and sustainable green transition. Health safeguards must be embedded in climate and industrial policies from the outset, supported by enforced corporate due diligence and long-term remediation financing. Protecting human health must be a co-equal priority to carbon reduction to prevent reproducing historical environmental injustices.