Week 8 Apr 2021
Confronted with the rising threat of climate change, many governments around the world have launched efforts to electrify their energy system while decarbonizing their electric power supply. This trend has led to an increased demand for non-carbon-emitting sources of electricity and energy storage technologies, and in turn has grown the demand for these technologies’ component minerals and materials. According to a World Bank study, the demand for component minerals for electric storage batteries—such as aluminum, cobalt, lithium, manganese, and nickel—could rise by more than 450 percent by 2050 if clean energy technology is deployed at a level consistent with the Paris Climate Agreement goal of keeping the rise in atmospheric temperature to no more than 2 degrees Celsius.