Mining’s Role in Energy Transition

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The energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables is underway, with electric vehicles at the heart of it. Electric vehicles have the potential to improve air quality and help decarbonise our economies, slowing the pace of climate change. But this requires huge amounts of raw materials, which cannot be sourced from recycling alone. The energy transition is reliant on primary production through mining.

In this video Professor Iain Stewart explores the different materials used to build electric vehicles, sourced from hundreds of mines around the world, and poses a challenge for the next generation of environmentally responsible geoscientists: to ensure that green technology is driven by modern, socially and environmentally responsible mining.

To find out more, see the World Bank's 2020 report on this topic: Climate-Smart Mining: Minerals for Climate Action