The Growing Material Demand to Reach Net Zero

🌱 How is the energy transition progressing?

According to recent research from the World Benchmarking Alliance and the Carbon Disclosure Project evaluating “corporate action against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals”, the “energy transition is currently progressing too slowly”. Companies “are still falling substantially short of the speed and scale needed to limit global warming to 1.5C and keep our planet habitable”.

🌱 Will companies reach their net zero targets?

The research found that only 15% of companies “have net-zero targets aligned with the International Energy Agency's net-zero emissions growth requirements”. The “assessment of 68 of the world’s largest and most influential electric utilities companies” showed that these companies’ “total share of wind and solar generation almost doubled to 7% of the energy mix between 2017 and 2022”. Yet, “[o]nly 43% of companies using coal generation currently have plans to phase it out”.[i]

🌱 What are transition minerals?

To reach the goal of having net zero emissions by the middle of the century, a rapid transition over to renewable energies is needed. Yet, the production of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and batteries requires large quantities of minerals – such as copper, lithium, and nickel. The minerals needed to produce renewable technologies are both of strategic and economic importance. In line with this, they are sometimes referred to as “transition minerals”.[ii]

🌱 How much mining is needed for the energy transition?

As the need for renewable energy technologies grows, the exploration and extraction of transition minerals will continue to increase. According to the International Energy Agency, 7 million tons of transition minerals were mined globally in 2020. To stay under the 2°C threshold, the production of transition minerals needs to be scaled up to around 28 million tons annually. Given the lower energy efficiency of fossil fuels and the continuous material and energy input required for a fossil fuel infrastructure, a fossil fuel economy however requires significantly more (roughly 500 to 1000 times more) mining than a clean energy economy does.[iii]

This post has been adapted from a newsletter written by Christine Nikander and Heidrun Kordholste-Nikander. The newsletter titled “How does the mining of critical raw materials impact forests and their biodiversity?” was originally published in “The E-Waste Newsletter”.

[i] Caroline Avan, Vicky Sins: Comment: The renewable energy revolution will only happen in time if no one is left behind. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/comment-renewable-energy-revolution-will-only-happen-time-if-no-one-is-left-2023-11-22/ (21.08.2024); Jack Grogan-Fenn, Renewables Sector Unprepared to Provide “Fair” Transition – BHRRC. https://www.esginvestor.net/live/renewables-sector-unprepared-to-provide-fair-transition-bhrrc/ (21.08.2024); Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Renewable Energy & Human Rights Benchmark 2023. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/renewable-energy-benchmark-2023/ (21.08.2024)

[ii] Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, “You can’t eat lithium”: Community consent and access to information in transition mineral mining exploration. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/tmt-2021/you-cant-eat-lithium-community-consent-and-access-to-information-in-transition-mineral-mining-exploration-in-europe-and-north-america (21.08.2024); International Energy Agency: The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); World Bank Group: Climate-Smart Mining: Minerals for Climate Action. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/extractiveindustries/brief/climate-smart-mining-minerals-for-climate-action; Dolf Gielen: Critical Materials For The Energy Transition, International Renewable Energy Agency Technical Paper 5/2021. https://www.irena.org/-/media/Irena/Files/Technical-papers/IRENA_Critical_Materials_2021.pdf?rev=e4a9bdcb93614c6c8087024270a2871d(21.08.2024)

[iii] International Energy Agency: Mineral requirements for clean energy transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions/mineral-requirements-for-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); Carly Leonida: Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals through mining. https://theintelligentminer.com/2023/01/19/meeting-the-sustainable-development-goals-through-mining/; Fair Cobalt Alliance: #WEF23 - Mining is key to a Just Energy Transition. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wef23-mining-key-just-energy-transition-fair-cobalt-alliance/?trackingId=TNmwTnUHTw2hNORNtkYpjg%3D%3D (21.08.2024); Hannah Ritchie: Mining quantities for low-carbon energy is hundreds to thousands of times lower than mining for fossil fuels. https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/mining-low-carbon-vs-fossil (21.08.2024); Michael Thomas: A Fossil Fuel Economy Requires 535x More Mining Than a Clean Energy Economy. https://www.distilled.earth/p/a-fossil-fuel-economy-requires-535x (21.08.2024); Tobiah Palm: Zeldzame metalen ontdekt in Zweden. ‘Europa heeft meer mijnbouw nodig’. https://www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid-economie/zeldzame-metalen-ontdekt-in-zweden-europa-heeft-meer-mijnbouw-nodig~b76e0051/ (21.08.2024)