Rt Hon. Ed Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
55 Whitehall
London, SW1A 2HP

10 March 2025

Dear Minister,

We, a coalition of UK-based Tibetans and Tibet organisations, are writing to you ahead of your visit to Beijing to discuss energy cooperation between the UK and the People’s Republic of China. Any partnership with the Chinese government must not come at the cost of Tibet’s environment, the rights of its people, or their cultural heritage.

For over 70 years, China’s occupation of Tibet has led to severe human rights violations, often linked to large-scale exploitation of Tibet’s natural resources. Tibet, home to the largest freshwater reserves outside the Arctic regions, is already warming three times faster than the rest of the planet. Its glaciers, which supply water to one-fifth of the world’s population, are vanishing at an alarming rate, resulting in eight billion tonnes of ice lost annually as glaciers disappear. This is exacerbated by ecologically disastrous megadevelopment projects, imposed by the Chinese government without consultation or consent, and the repression of traditional Tibetan nomadic ways of life and the ecological stewardship knowledge that holds. 

Tibet, with its low population and plentiful resources, has been turned into an energy exporter, further incorporating it into the People’s Republic of China, with no sovereignty over how its resources are used and how its pastures, mountains, lakes and rivers are stewarded.

Tibetans understand more than most the interconnectedness of economics, climate, and ecology, as well as the need for a sustainable, global, green transition.

China’s drive for “green energy” in Tibet is neither just nor sustainable. The region holds 85% of China’s lithium reserves and vast deposits of other critical minerals. Massive hydropower dams — built without regard for environmental or cultural consequences — are flooding villages, displacing Tibetan communities, and destroying centuries-old monasteries. 

In February 2024, there were unprecedented mass protests in Dege County against the Kamtok hydropower dam, followed by mass arrests. The Kamtok hydropower dam will flood villages and destroy another six monasteries, some with Buddhist frescoes that are 500 years old. In September 2024, thirteen UN human rights experts raised serious concerns over the destructive impact of the dam with the Chinese government and China Huadian, the state-owned energy company responsible.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is overseeing a process of mass relocation of rural Tibetans from their lands, displacing them from pastures where Tibetans have herded and let their yaks graze for centuries. Nomadic practices are a key element of rural Tibetans’ way of life but is being undermined by forced labour transfer and vocational training policies, in which rural Tibetans are placed, through a mixture of incentives and coercion, into “productive” labour, usually menial or service work, unrelated to nomadic practices and with low pay. Official Chinese government statistics suggest that by 2025, over 930,000 rural Tibetans based in the western half of Tibet alone will have been removed from grasslands so far this century. Estimates from Tibet researchers put the full figure across all of Tibet at closer to 2 million. 

The effect of these reckless policies extends beyond Tibet. In December, Chinese state media announced the approval of the Medog hydropower station – the world’s largest hydropower dam – on the Brahmaputra River. This announcement came despite claims by some Chinese engineers that the dam was unfeasible and unnecessary and despite the seismic risks of earthquakes and landslides. The dam appears to be more about establishing control over Tibet’s border with India and of the rivers that flow into that country, than about generating sustainable energy, and has prompted concerns in India.

Crucially, none of these decisions are being taken in consultation with the Tibetan people. Tibetans who speak out against these abuses face arrest. The 2024 imprisonment of environmental whistleblower Tsongon Tsering is the latest example of China silencing the voices of Tibetan environmental defenders.

On 14 August 2024, six months after the protests that broke out in Dege County, Tibetans around the world announced a call for a moratorium on extraction and mega-development projects so long as Tibet remains occupied and so long as the use of its landscape and natural resources remains out of their control.

It is vital that any collaboration with the Chinese government does not come at the cost of Tibetans’ way of life and cultural heritage, their environment or ecology, or violate their right to self-determination. In light of the UK’s commitment to human rights, climate justice and responsible business conduct, we urge you to:

• Reject any cooperation or partnerships involving China Huadian or other companies involved in megadevelopment projects in occupied Tibet.
• Support the call by the Tibetan people for an immediate moratorium on environmentally damaging projects in Tibet.
• Where megadevelopment projects are going ahead, urge the Chinese authorities to uphold Tibetan rights by:
  • Ensuring impacted communities have free, prior, and informed consent;
  • Stopping all forced displacement of communities; 
  • Protecting civil and political rights so Tibetans can voice concerns without fear of persecution; 
  • Ensuring all impacted communities have the right to enjoy effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy. 
• Insist China cease the criminalisation of Tibetan environmental defenders and immediately and unconditionally release those detained for their work to protect Tibet’s environment, including Tsongon Tsering. 
• Press for meaningful and unfettered access to Tibet for independent human rights monitors, including Dege County and affected monasteries in the area.

We would like to brief you in advance if you require further information before you travel to Beijing. We also request a debrief following the completion of your visit.

Yours sincerely, 

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE: ‘Tibet’ refers to the three Tibetan provinces of Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang. In the 1960s, the Chinese government split Tibet into new administrative divisions: the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures within Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. When the Chinese government references Tibet, it is referring to the TAR.