The global push for a green transition has intensified demand for minerals critical to renewable energy technologies, much of which are sourced from resource-rich regions like Latin America. Peru, a leading producer of these minerals, has become a focal point for mining investments, but the sector’s expansion has sparked widespread societal unrest. Communities often bear the brunt of mining’s negative externalities, including water scarcity, environmental degradation, and economic inequalities, raising questions about the equity of the green transition. This paper examines the conditions under which mining operations provoke societal protests, focusing on the role of firm ownership and operational scale in shaping local opposition.

Using monthly data from 194 Peruvian provinces between 2006 and 2020, we analyze the impact of firm nationality and ownership changes on protest onset, hypothesizing that sites operated by foreign firms from high-income countries face fewer protests due to stricter environmental and social standards. Conversely, sites owned by Chinese firms are expected to face heightened resistance due to perceptions of resource exploitation and lower environmental oversight. We also investigate how extraction volume and resource type moderate these effects, as more intensive or environmentally harmful mining is likely to exacerbate tensions.

Employing two-way fixed effects and difference-in-differences models, we reveal how firm ownership structures and local conditions intersect to influence societal unrest. By situating mining within the broader context of global green transformations, this paper highlights the unequal burdens of resource extraction and offers insights into the governance challenges of a just green transition.