New report homes in on solutions to reduce mining impacts of EV transition

Electrification is key to decarbonizing transportation, one of the biggest contributors to planet-warming greenhouse-gas emissions.

But “electric” doesn’t always mean “clean.”

That’s one of the themes of a new report by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney, “Minimizing Mining Impacts on the Road to Zero Emissions Transport.” The report, commissioned by environmental nonprofit Earthworks, provides policy recommendations to reduce the environmentally and socially harmful mining impacts associated with electric vehicles, even as it encourages the transition away from fossil fuel-powered transportation.

“This report doesn’t say that we shouldn’t electrify transportation at all,” Paulina Personius, international campaigner for Earthworks’s Making Clean Energy Clean campaign, told Tech Brew. “But it says that we should do so in a very careful and considerate way, and also while implementing other solutions that make us a lot less dependent on personal vehicles. At the moment, EVs are one of the principal drivers of mineral demand.”

At the heart of the issue are EV batteries, which use large quantities of materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, and copper. Growing demand for lithium-ion batteries is driving higher demand for these minerals, the report notes.

And that’s where the problem lies: Mining and processing of minerals and metals makes up 17% of greenhouse-gas emissions, per Earthworks. And, the report notes, the process of mining these materials can have negative effects on workers and nearby communities, which often are made up of indigenous peoples.

Just one example: The majority of the world’s cobalt supply is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in “large industrial mines where Congolese workers face violence, racism, and unsafe working conditions,” where some workers earn as little as $2.50 a day and hundreds have died or sustained injuries, according to the report.

But Earthworks and the report’s authors contend that the world can move away from fossil fuel-based transport systems without expanding mining, pointing to numerous case studies from around the world.

Their recommendations boil down to:

• Reduce dependence on cars by redesigning cities “to promote public transport, walking, and cycling.”
• Develop smaller and more efficient EVs to reduce demand for battery materials.
• Implement responsible mineral sourcing practices.
• Improve battery recycling so that minerals can be recovered and reused.
• Encourage the reuse, remanufacturing, and repurposing of EV batteries.

One of the report’s case studies looks at Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, which created a new public transit system in 2000 to help alleviate air pollution and traffic congestion. As a result, the city has seen a 40% decrease in air pollutants, less car usage, and a 92% reduction in traffic deaths, according to the report.

“Cities in the US often have much larger budgets and more resources available to them,” Personius said, “so I really see that as an example that could be replicated in the US.”

Looking ahead to the upcoming presidential election, Personius said that the US risks falling behind in terms of regulating its mining practices. But she remains optimistic that proven solutions can be implemented at both the local and federal levels to ensure the transition away from fossil fuels is clean and equitable.

“Something that we can point to as a source of hope in this report is that these solutions that both reduce mining demand and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels are already being implemented at various scales and various different regional contexts,” she said. “And so it’s not like we need to wait for technological advances or for these solutions to be developed. They already exist. And what’s standing in the way is political willpower to fund, implement, and support them.”