Researchers define Africa’s “Tesla Paradox” as the divide between the clean-energy promise of electric vehicles and the economic, environmental, and political burdens concentrated in mineral-rich African countries. The authors argue that limited local processing and weak governance restrict value capture while shifting ecological and social risks onto mining communities.
Researchers estimated that dormant smartphones in Norway exceeded 10 million devices by 2024, substantially outnumbering the 6.8 million phones still in use. Across three analyzed components, active and dormant devices held about 80 tonnes of critical raw materials, although current recycling systems struggle to recover their rare-earth elements.
Modeling suggests that overlooking lithium, cobalt, and nickel constraints could overestimate China’s EV ownership by 42% in 2060 while underestimating cumulative CO2 emissions by 57% and transition costs by 6%. Recycling and lower-cobalt batteries could ease supply pressures, but net-zero transport would still require carbon-neutral or negative-emissions electricity or carbon removal.
A working paper finds that rare earth element prices follow a distinctive spike-and-revert pattern, with sharp increases followed by prolonged declines toward long-term levels. The authors link this behavior to China’s dominant, state-controlled production system, limited supply responsiveness, low recycling rates, and few viable substitutes.
A national-scale mineral potential assessment mapped areas across Australia that are prospective for unconformity-related rare-earth-element systems. The framework reduced the exploration search area by up to 95% while highlighting underexplored Precambrian basin margins as potential heavy rare earth targets.
The study found that projected U.S. light-duty EV adoption could cut life cycle GHG emissions by 61%, primary energy use by 20%, and total material extraction by 34% compared with an ICEV-only counterfactual. However, EVs increase demand for metals and critical minerals, making battery durability, recycling, and responsible mining central to maximizing climate gains.
A CITP working paper argues that deep-sea mining exposes a legal fault line between UNCLOS environmental duties and investment-law protections for mining investors. The paper warns that this mismatch could limit sponsoring states’ ability to strengthen safeguards as scientific evidence of seabed harm evolves.
A century-long legal and historical analysis shows that critical minerals are defined not only by scarcity but by shifting claims about security, trade, industrial power, and geopolitical control. The paper argues that today’s critical minerals rush is less a simple climate-transition story than a contest over US hegemony, extractive markets, supply chains, and the future of international cooperation.
This paper argues that the net-zero transition will require major new investment in energy transition minerals, but supply will remain constrained by financing gaps, geopolitical concentration, demand uncertainty, and ESG risks. It calls for responsible mining, sustainable finance, green premiums, and circular economy strategies to secure mineral supplies while reducing environmental and social harm.
Seabed mining is attracting renewed interest as demand for cobalt, nickel, copper, and other critical minerals used in batteries, electronics, and advanced technologies rises. Linda Nhon argues that commercial seabed mining remains constrained by terrestrial competition, price volatility, environmental uncertainty, and regulatory ambiguity, making ocean science and international cooperation a stronger near-term priority.
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