Nickel mining

The transition to green energy is meant to reduce our dependence on coal and oil—fossil fuels that must remain in the ground if we are to halt global warming. But as we move away from them, we are becoming increasingly dependent on a new set of resources: minerals like nickel, lithium, and cobalt. These are essential for electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, and virtually all digital technologies.

So, should we just dig up all these minerals?

The reality is more complicated. Extracting these minerals is energy-intensive and generates large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Mining operations, metal refining, and global transportation still rely heavily on fossil fuels. Moreover, these resources are mostly found in countries like Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Argentina—places where the technologies they enable often remain out of reach for local populations.

The result is a tragic irony: environmental damage is no longer concentrated in industrialised nations, but in the very countries where these raw materials are extracted.