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What=E2=80=99s driving a g= lobal rush for critical minerals?=C2=A0Lisa Sachs=C2=A0on = the environmental challenges of clean technology.

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Pixabay

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(Originally published = 2022 | 03.18)

On the shore of the Congo River in Kinshasa=C2=A0sits th= e Fleuve Congo Hotel, a five-star hotel with a weekly pool party in a count= ry where most people subsist on less than $2 a day. The hotel hosts an ongo= ing stream of prominent guests, including the former NBA All-Star Dikembe M= utombo, the Senegalese-American musician Akon, and the founder of the Black= water private-security firm, Erik Prince, as well as investors from Western= Europe, Russia, and China. The Fleuve=E2=80=99s high-profile residents typ= ically come to the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.) after the country= =E2=80=99s main source of wealth=E2=80=94its minerals. But they=E2=80=99re = not usually there for diamonds or other precious stones; most are there to = compete for the country=E2=80=99s stores of cobalt. The D.R.C. has more of = it than any other country in the world, which is now driving geopolitical c= ompetition there, not just among businesses but between the U.S. and Chines= e governments. Why cobalt?

Lisa Sachs=C2=A0is the director of the Columbia Center on = Sustainable Investment at Columbia University and the vice-chair of the Wor= ld Economic Forum=E2=80=99s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mining &= Metals. According to Sachs, cobalt=E2=80=94along with lithium, copper, nic= kel, and other=C2=A0critical minerals,=C2=A0as they=E2=80=99re cal= led=E2=80=94are essential for building vitally important new technologies, = particularly for the kind of products necessary to reduce fossil-fuel consu= mption and greenhouse-gas emissions. Critical minerals are the main buildin= g blocks of electric-vehicle batteries and potentially key for producing, d= istributing, and storing clean, renewable energy. And yet, Sachs says, mini= ng these minerals comes with substantial environmental and social costs. Th= e mines for them tend to be powered by fossil fuels, and they tend to deple= te and contaminate local water supplies, worsening global warming both dire= ctly and indirectly. In the D.R.C. specifically, cobalt and other minerals = are often mined by child laborers and under dangerous conditions. Globally,= China now controls much of the mining of critical minerals, particularly l= ithium and cobalt, which has led to a complex geopolitical dynamic around a= type of natural resource likely to become only more important.
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Michael Bluhm: Why are critical minerals so important?

Lisa Sachs: A lot of people don=E2=80=99t realize that mee= ting society=E2=80=99s material needs in the coming decades will require a = tremendous volume of mined materials. The world=E2=80=99s population contin= ues to grow, and it=E2=80=99s urbanizing, meaning more construction, more p= ower grids, more fiber optic cables, and so on.

The massive energy transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources= will take a huge amount of mined materials for generation, transmission, d= istribution, and storage=E2=80=94for solar panels, wind turbines, and batte= ries. Each component of the energy transition needs minerals. Critical mine= rals are essential components of those technologies, especially=E2=80=94but= not only=E2=80=94for the energy transition.

There isn=E2=80=99t one agreed set of critical minerals. Each country has= a list of them; the lists overlap, but they=E2=80=99re not the same. They = include cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium, manganese. It=E2=80=99s not a stat= ic, closed list, though. The materials we need are sure to change. We=E2=80= =99re constantly innovating for efficiency, or when the supply chain is exp= ensive or risky, so technologies are evolving and the universe of critical = minerals and the demand for critical minerals is always in flux.

Bluhm: You say demand for these minerals will increase. Wh= at=E2=80=99s driving the business of critical minerals now?

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Sachs: There are four important dynamics. First, we need t= o massively ramp up the production of renewable-energy technologies=E2=80= =94not just solar panels and turbines but also distribution grids, batterie= s, storage, and so on.

Second, where are we going to get these minerals? There=E2=80=99s already= been a scramble to get them and geopolitical tension around access to them= . Access is an important dynamic because it concerns who mines the minerals= and what supply chains look like.

Third, there are really important environmental and social dynamics. Mining= has substantial environmental and social costs, despite decades of trying = to make mining more sustainable. How are we going to meet our material need= s in a way that doesn=E2=80=99t continue to devastate the planet and cause = social disruption?

Fourth=E2=80=94and it=E2=80=99s related to climate=E2=80=94is the growing= attention to circularity: reusing products more than making new products. = We know we need these minerals for the energy transition, but what are othe= r ways to meet these needs than through mined products? How can we make our= whole economy more sustainable?

Those are the four overwhelming dynamics: meeting growing need; deali= ng with the geopolitics of supply chains; minimizing environmental and soci= al effects; and exploring more sustainable uses for these materials, so tha= t we don=E2=80=99t need to mine as much to meet our increasing material nee= ds.

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Albert Hyseni

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More from Lisa Sachs=C2=A0at The Signal:

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=E2=80=9CMining ha= s always come=C2=A0at environmental and social costs. It=E2=80=99s= inherently extractive, whether it=E2=80=99s underground or open-pit. It re= quires digging up the Earth, disrupting biodiversity, sometimes at substant= ial and irreversible scales. Mining and processing require enormous amounts= of water, and both divert water from other purposes that can be core to li= velihoods. Both discharge waste, too, into waterways used for other purpose= s, including human consumption and agriculture, with potentially devastatin= g consequences=E2=80=94to people and to marine life. Mining and processing = are also very energy-intensive. Most energy for mining comes from fossil-fu= el sources. More mining and more processing mean more emissions. And mining= has historically been implicated in terrible violations of human rights an= d social disruptions. If a mine is under or near a community, it can mean t= he displacement of that community, with major consequences for livelihoods = and culture. Heritage sites have infamously been cleared to make way for mi= nes.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CThese a= re strategic minerals=C2=A0for most countries. They=E2=80=99re cri= tical to U.S. energy goals. They=E2=80=99re critical to U.S. national secur= ity. But all countries want to ensure a reliable supply of these materials = for their domestic strategic purposes. Their mining and production have bee= n increasingly concentrated, and China dominates a lot of that. The geopoli= tical concern is, a concentration of access to the supply of any of these m= inerals presents a risk. It exacerbates geopolitical tensions=E2=80=94but i= t=E2=80=99s also simply a geopolitical issue that has to be resolved.=E2=80= =9D

=E2=80=9CEvery c= ountry has government-led initiatives=C2=A0to develop resilient an= d secure supply chains for critical minerals. Those efforts include the inn= ovation of alternatives, strategic expansions into new mine sites, trying t= o develop new processing capabilities domestically, investing in recycling = and reuse. Governments in the U.S., EU, Japan, and elsewhere are trying all= these things in the interest of energy security and independence from Chin= a. But there are challenges. In the U.S., there=E2=80=99s a lot of resistan= ce to new lithium mining because of the environmental and social consequenc= es. Host communities don=E2=80=99t want lithium mining. But securing the ma= terials needed for a global energy transition is a global challenge. It=E2= =80=99s not 193 domestic challenges. It=E2=80=99s inefficient and unfortuna= te that we=E2=80=99re securing our energy and material needs in this compet= itive way, rather than having some mechanism that facilitates global coordi= nation, minimizes impacts, and maximizes reuse and alternatives. There=E2= =80=99s a real case for global coordination and cooperation, but that=E2=80= =99s not happening yet.=E2=80=9D

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