The Indonesian president’s visit to Australia could lead to closer co-operation on the energy transition, with Australia supplying lithium for Indonesia’s electric vehicle and battery production.
China is a major investor in Latin America’s renewable energy and critical minerals like lithium, but countries like Chile are also taking steps to secure their own clean energy future.
Lithium extraction in Bolivia poses more than environmental questions: It illustrates how notions about ‘raw materials’ can be at odds with Indigenous relations with the land.
Like Australia, Chile is facing mounting environmental pressures, such as an escalating water crisis. If the constitution is approved in September it’ll deliver profound changes to the country.
M. Stanley Whittingham was one of three scientists who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work developing lithium-ion batteries – used to power mobile phones, laptops and electric cars.
More electric vehicles and renewable energy means more mining for resources. Unless industry adopts cleaner habits urgently, the environment faces more damage.