The Productivity Commission seems to be against manufacturing, even the making of batteries using local materials. The new team at the top might help it think more broadly.
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.
The new law, which came into effect this week, aims to better reflect the aspirations of Aboriginal people in decisions that impact their cultural heritage. Some say it doesn’t go far enough.
In the late 1980s, well diggers in Mali struck a rich source of naturally-created hydrogen. Now prospectors are scouring South Australia, looking for natural hydrogen.
Nearly 400 new mines could open by 2035 to meet demand for the minerals used in global electrification. Better recycling can help with supply, but mining’s impacts will have to be better managed.
The action by the Environment Protection Authority follows alarming results from testing of rainwater tanks and the blood and hair of residents living near to the mine.
The environmental impacts of electric vehicle batteries range from mining, and energy and water use to the hazards of discarded batteries. These issues can be resolved, but there’s no time to waste.
As toxic water continues to spill from tailings ponds across mining developments, decades of scientific research provides evidence of how wildlife will be affected.
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.
Dignity is at the centre of many rights-based declarations, but to eradicate racist policy and practices, we must commit to noticing each other’s personhood in new ways.
A new process to quickly remove radioactive chemicals from water and other liquids and trap them in a clay-like substance could make nuclear waste management much easier.