South by Southwest 2024

Mining for the Climate Crisis Without Destroying the Planet

To achieve net zero emission goals there is a growing need for large quantities of critical metals like nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese, etc. for batteries and clean energy technologies. Projections indicate that the demand will rise 500% by 2050, leading to concerns about their availability and sustainability. Reducing demand, substitutions, and recycling as well as comparing land, sea, and space mining sources will be considered as solutions to get the metals required for NetZero. Meeting this demand sustainably will be essential to address the global crisis of climate change.