How can we clean up mining?
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Production Date
Video Length
00:11:37
Broadcasting UN Entity
Summary
In this episode of The Lid Is On, Ligia Noronha, the Head of the UN Environment Agency in New York, explained what the UN is doing to make mining more sustainable.
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Industry and governments are actively discussing how to transition to energy systems that no longer rely on big, dirty power stations.
However, to make this transition, we will need to mine a lot more minerals: lithium, nickel, and cobalt for the batteries that are going to store solar and wind energy; rare earth elements for the magnets that turn wind turbines, and the motors in electric vehicles; and copper and aluminum for power transmission lines.
Getting these minerals out of the ground to power a cleaner world is often a dirty process: it can destroy landscapes, kill huge numbers of species, and lead to human rights abuses.