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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
Showing posts from category minerals.
  • Extracting Opportunity in the Renewable Energy Transition

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    Guest Contributor  //  June 13, 2022  //  By Katelyn Rousch
    51539146260_6eeb3fa0fd_k

    Few people can name from memory the materials required for wind turbines, photovoltaic panel semiconductors, and electric car batteries. The list is too long, but among the more recognizable minerals used in renewable production are aluminum, lithium, cobalt, iron, copper, lead, and nickel.

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  • Deep Seabed Mining and the Green Energy Transition

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    Guest Contributor  //  May 31, 2022  //  By David Michel

    Rays,Of,Sunlight,Into,The,Underwater,Cave

    On March 8, 2022, the price of nickel doubled overnight. Fueled by the war in Ukraine, fears of supply disruptions briefly drove the cost of nickel contracts over $100,000-a-ton. The London Metal Exchange, the main global market for industrial metals, suspended trading for a week, canceling billions of dollars worth of trades.

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  • Andrew I Rudman and Cecily Fasanella, Innovation News Network

    Before Breaking Ground: Challenges and Opportunities for Mexican Lithium

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    May 25, 2022  //  By Wilson Center Staff
    Sonora desert

    The original version of this article, by Andrew I Rudman and Cecily Fasanella, appeared on Innovation News Network.

    In response to the growing challenges created by climate change, consumers across the globe are demanding more environmentally friendly products. This demand is particularly evident when examining the automotive market. In 2021, global sales of electric vehicles (EVs) more than doubled from the year before, rising from 3 million to 6.6 million vehicles according to the International Energy Agency. This boom has created a need for lithium, a key component of the rechargeable batteries used to power these vehicles. Referred to as ‘white gold,’ countries with lithium reserves are racing to increase extraction and export deposits for battery production. As automobile and battery manufacturers work to meet demand and avoid supply chain shocks, many are looking toward the untapped potential of Mexican lithium.

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  • Can Law Prevent the Green Resourse Curse in Sub-Saharan Africa?

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    Guest Contributor  //  May 23, 2022  //  By Tracy Stein, Carl Bruch & Jordan Dieni
    Solar,Hybrid,Power,Plant,In,In,Somalia,,Africa

    A new contribution in a continuing series examining “backdraft“—the unintended consequences of climate change responses—and how its effects might be anticipated and minimized to avoid conflict and promote peace.

    The transition to a carbon-neutral economy will bring profound shifts to diverse economic sectors. This transformation will generate increasing demands for land for renewable energy generation and the minerals needed for clean energy technologies.

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  • System Shock: Russia’s War and Global Food, Energy, and Mineral Supply Chains

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    From the Wilson Center  //  May 9, 2022  //  By Amanda King & Claire Doyle
    4-13 system shocks newsletter

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is sending shockwaves through global systems for natural resources like food, oil and natural gas, and critical minerals. But a recent Wilson Center event assessing the fallout of the conflict also looked to the deeper implications and lessons from the crisis.

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  • The Challenge of Securing Access to Minerals for the Green Transition

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    Guest Contributor  //  November 16, 2021  //  By Jewellord Nem Singh
    Northern,Province,,South,Africa,,08/08/2011,,Underground,Platinum,Miners,Fitting,A

    COP26 came to a close in Glasgow this weekend, with activists and developing country governments disappointed in the global ambition as laid out in the final agreement text. On the one hand, the final document reflects commitments to cut on methane, doubling of monetary compensation for adaptation measures, and the need for cooperation between the United States and China—the two largest carbon emitters—to set out a roadmap to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, developing countries criticized rich countries for evading the language of loss and damage—compensation that recognizes that the countries most affected by climate change have contributed the least to planet-warming greenhouse gases.

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  • The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country from Corporate Greed: A Conversation with Co-authors Robin Broad and John Cavanagh

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    Friday Podcasts  //  September 10, 2021  //  By Holly Sarkissian

    Water Defenders Podcast Thumbnail

    “Many people have watched fights between communities and big corporations around the world. The corporations usually win so those are the Goliath. The Davids usually lose,” says John Cavanagh, co-author of The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country from Corporate Greed. In this week’s episode of Friday Podcasts, Cavanagh and co-author Robin Broad recount how local activists mobilized a global coalition of religious leaders, labor unions, and environmental activists to block an international corporation from opening a gold mine that threatened El Salvador’s fragile water supply.  

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  • New Constitution Could Help Chile Avert the Lithium Curse

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    December 3, 2020  //  By Matthew Gallagher
    shutterstock_1556903237

    Chile is on the cusp of a new era. Just as its lithium—a common element of energy storage technology, which is itself a critical component of the clean energy transition—is experiencing a rise in global market demand, Chilean citizens have called for a new constitution.

    MORE
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