Sustainability Insights

The world is focusing on increasing the use of renewable energy technologies. The capacities for electricity generation and transmission are increasing. The use of smartphones is increasing. The world is looking towards green technologies and digital transition. With all these, the demand for critical minerals is increasing.

Critical minerals are essential for the manufacturing of products crucial for the economy and national security, and have a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruption. This disruption is largely due to supply chain concentration and export restrictions. The criticality of minerals for a country changes with the dynamics of demand and supply, technology development, policy focus, and import dependency. The list of critical minerals varies across countries and changes with time. For example, India at present lists 30 critical minerals, while the United States (US) has 60 minerals in the critical minerals category. The US’s 2022 list contained 50 minerals.

Critical minerals are essential in renewable energy technologies, electrification, electronic goods, defence, aerospace, medical implants, and the list goes on. The ongoing green and digital transition has increased the demand for critical minerals. For example, (1) the extension of electricity networks has increased the demand for copper, (2) the rising demand for Electric Vehicles significantly increases the demand for critical minerals including graphite, lithium, cobalt, copper, phosphorus, manganese and nickel, (3) Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance.

There is no doubt that critical minerals are essential. Countries across the world have zero-emission targets. Zero emissions means increased reliance on non-fossil sources, which in turn increases the reliance on critical minerals. Increased dependence on critical minerals demands increased mining and increased processing capacities.

Mining is associated with Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. For example, copper releases 4 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of copper, while nickel production releases 12-78 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne. Trost et al., in their research on Life Cycle Assessment of 19 Critical Mineral Mines in the United States, quote: “The production of 4.28 billion metric tons of mineral equivalents emitted 225 million kg of pollutants into the environment, most of which were released into the soil (70%). These emissions also included 5.64 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e), the standard unit for measuring the global warming potential of GHGs“. The increased mining comes at the cost of increased GHG emissions. In addition to mining, the processing contributes to emissions, as well.

Mining starts with loss of trees. During the period 2002 -2020, all types of mining and related activities resulted in loss of nearly 1.4 million hectares of trees. The mining of critical minerals is no different. Articles and published research suggest responsible mining practices to prevent further degradation of vulnerable ecosystems.

Cutting trees and disturbing the forests affect biodiversity. There are nine planetary boundaries to monitor the overall health of the planet. One among the nine is ‘biosphere integrity ‘. The latest planetary health check report states that species are going extinct at an alarming rate globally.

Mining is also associated with displacements of local communities. The loss of a forest directly impacts the community that depends on it for livelihood.

Critical minerals are essential for the economy, digital progress and the green transition. However, the increased demand for critical minerals comes with challenges. The extraction and processing of critical minerals contribute to emissions and affect biodiversity. The time ahead can only reveal the magnitude of benefits and damages to nature and humanity.

(Views and personal.)