Signal IEA: clean energy mineral production may need to rise sixfold between 2020 and 2040

Summary

The International Energy Agency estimates that, on a path consistent with climate goals, production of minerals needed for clean energy technologies may have to rise sixfold between 2020 and 2040. The report uses this figure to underline how material-hungry the energy transition is. It judges that expanding conventional mining at that pace could intensify environmental and social impacts that are already well known. This is driving interest in other ways of obtaining raw materials, among them biomining, which uses microbes to recover metals. The technique can extract metals from low-grade ores, mine tailings, spent batteries and electronic waste. Under mounting pressure on raw materials, the report sees such alternatives as one tool within a broader strategy.