Sustainable minerals and metals for a low carbon future

Climate change mitigation will create new natural resource and supply chain opportunities and dilemmas, as substantial amounts of raw materials will be required to build new low carbon energy devices and infrastructure (1). Between 2015 and 2050, the global electric vehicle stock needs to jump from 1.2 million light-duty passenger cars to 965 million passenger cars; battery storage capacity needs to climb from 0.5 gigawatt -hours (GWh) to 12,380 GWh; and the amount of installed solar PV capacity must rise from 223 gigawatts (GW) to over 7,100 GW (2). The materials and metals demanded by a low-carbon economy will be immense. (3).