COP15: Rich countries announce alliance to make mineral mining green

Seven of the world’s wealthiest countries have announced an alliance to improve the sustainability of mining minerals that will be needed to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels

By James Dinneen

Countries representing seven of the world’s largest economies have announced an alliance to improve the sustainability of mining minerals essential to decarbonisation. The announcement was made at the COP15 biodiversity summit currently underway in Montreal.

Critical minerals like cobalt, lithium, copper and a slew of rare substances like tellurium are used in many electronics, batteries and renewable energy technologies. One estimate has the demand for these minerals increasing six-fold by 2050. Demand for lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries, is projected …