REE mining won’t undercut climate goals and there are enough reserves to power clean energy transition
Osaka, 23 (February 2, 2023 at 6:30 a.m. EST, Shannon Osaka, “Minerals are crucial for electric cars and wind turbines. Some worry whether we have enough; Minerals are crucial for electric cars, wind turbines, and solar panels. Some worry whether the future supply can meet the rising demand,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/02/critical-minerals-run-out-shortage/, JMP))
Recent research has also shown that the amount of minerals required for the shift to renewable energy is significant — but falls well within the amount of reserves available. A study released recently by scientists at the University of California at Irvine and MIT found that current reserves of minerals like aluminum, copper, manganese, silver and more should support building enough wind and solar power to meet climate targets.
What’s more, the mining from those operations would not have an outsize impact on global warming. (One repeated critique of renewable energy is that the intensity of mining might counteract the emissions benefits of wind and solar.) According to the study, the materials required for the transition to low-carbon electricity would take up somewhere between 1 and 9 percent of the remaining carbon budget: a significant amount but one that wouldn’t undercut overall climate goals.
“The emissions to produce a refined ton of steel or aluminum to meet all of this demand would not really threaten global carbon budgets,” said Seaver Wang, the co-director of climate and energy at the energy think tank the Breakthrough Institute and the lead author on the paper. (The study focused on electricity generation. The researchers did not look at the mineral requirements for transportation or electric vehicles.)