News Wise (2023, August 17) ‘Green Transition’ Needs Enhanced Action on Sustainable Minerals and Metals. Retrieved August 19, 2023, from
‘Green Transition’ needs enhanced action on sustainable minerals and metals (newswise.com)
Minerals and Metals make up the backbone of major industries. Governments need to be careful how they use these resources to keep long-sustainability in mind. The energy transition requires large amounts of resources as electric cars, wind turbines, and other green energy solutions have led to an increased demand for minerals. Because of the global nature of these resources, their challenges and responsibilities are shared across nations as countries like Switzerland look for increased collaboration. A circular economy is undeveloped but would be perfect for the transition to green energy as an efficient, circular economy allows minerals to replenish.
I think This is an interesting article. It adds on to the rest of the article by showing the need for international cooperation and the steps that are taken by countries to create a connected world cooperating to gain the same goal. It also, rather than focusing on environmental impacts, looks at the bigger picture, in relation to the large number of resources required to prop up the green energy transition. It also shows the methods being tested by Empa that are delving into ways we can be more efficient for a circular economy to give minerals time to replenish.
This article definitely has it right. Considering the limited and rare minerals we need for the batteries, which are mostly not in the USA, we need to collaborate with the world to get them. Since the benefits of electrifying affect us all, you’d think there’d be an incentive to us helping each other out in this shift away from fossil fuel. Based on what I know this is not so much the case though. Was the article hopeful that this collaboration could happen? What do you think it would take to get the US and China, the big demanders of battery materials, to cooperate?
I agree with you that in order to create things like electric cars that are more sustainable the necessity for minerals and other things becomes greater. This is very intriguing and I would like to know the steps they are taking to gain the same goal. I wonder how much more sustainable cars really are if they are using more minerals?
Thanks for both of your responses! I think it was pretty hopeful that international cooperation was possible. I think there is also going to be a financial incentive to move away from fossil fuels as we can see elements of that already. I feel like cars would become less and less sustainable when they need more materials, but in contrast it is still less that what is needed so far by fossil fuels that we use for cars.