Editing Renewable energy (section)

=== Metal and mineral extraction ===
{{See also|Environmental footprint of electric cars|Rare-earth element#Environmental considerations}}

The [[Energy transition|transition]] to renewable energy requires increased extraction of certain metals and minerals. Like all mining, this impacts the environment<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Tobi |title=Mining needed for renewable energy 'could harm biodiversity' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/01/mining-needed-for-renewable-energy-could-harm-biodiversity |access-date=18 October 2020 |agency=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=Nature Communications |date=1 September 2020 |archive-date=6 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006002803/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/01/mining-needed-for-renewable-energy-could-harm-biodiversity |url-status=live }}</ref> and can lead to [[environmental conflict]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marín |first1=Anabel |last2=Goya |first2=Daniel |date=2021-12-01 |title=Mining—The dark side of the energy transition |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221042242100071X |journal=Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions |series=Celebrating a decade of EIST: What's next for transition studies? |language=en |volume=41 |pages=86–88 |doi=10.1016/j.eist.2021.09.011 |bibcode=2021EIST...41...86M |s2cid=239975201 |issn=2210-4224}}</ref> For example, lithium mining uses around 65% of the water in the Salar de Atamaca desert forcing farmers and llama herders to abandon their ancestral settlements and creating environment degradation,<ref>{{cite web |title=UN highlights urgent need to tackle impact of likely electric car battery production boom |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1067272 |website=United Nations |date=28 June 2020 |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref> in several African countries, the green energy transition has created a mining boom, causing deforestation, and threatening already endangered species.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hemingway Jaynes |first1=Cristen |title=Africa's 'Mining Boom' Threatens More Than a Third of Its Great Apes |url=https://www.ecowatch.com/africa-mining-great-apes-threatened.html |access-date=10 April 2024 |agency=Ecowatch |publisher=the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv). |date=4 April 2024}}</ref>  Wind power requires large amounts of copper and zinc, as well as smaller amounts of the rarer metal [[neodymium]]. Solar power is less resource-intensive, but still requires significant amounts of aluminum. The expansion of electrical grids requires both copper and aluminum. Batteries, which are critical to enable storage of renewable energy, use large quantities of copper, nickel, aluminum and graphite. Demand for lithium is expected to grow 42-fold from 2020 to 2040. Demand for nickel, cobalt and graphite is expected to grow by a factor of about 20–25.<ref name="IEA minerals">{{Cite web |date=2021-05-05 |title=The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions (presentation and full report) |url=https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions |access-date=2022-11-14 |publisher=IEA |language=en}}</ref> For each of the most relevant minerals and metals, its mining is dominated by a single country: [[Copper mining in Chile|copper in Chile]], [[Nickel mining in Indonesia|nickel in Indonesia]], [[Rare earth industry in China|rare earths in China]], [[Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo|cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)]], and [[Lithium mining in Australia|lithium in Australia]]. China dominates [[Mineral processing|processing]] of all of these.<ref name="IEA minerals" />

Recycling these metals after the devices they are embedded in are spent is essential to create a [[circular economy]] and ensure renewable energy is sustainable. By 2040, recycled [[copper]], [[lithium]], cobalt, and [[nickel]] from spent batteries could reduce combined primary supply requirements for these minerals by around 10%.<ref name="IEA minerals" />

A controversial approach is [[deep sea mining]]. Minerals can be collected from new sources like [[polymetallic nodules]] lying on the [[seabed]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ali |first1=Saleem |date=2 June 2020 |title=Deep sea mining: the potential convergence of science, industry and sustainable development? |url=https://sustainabilitycommunity.springernature.com/posts/deep-sea-mining-the-potential-convergence-of-science-industry-and-sustainable-development |access-date=20 January 2021 |website=Springer Nature Sustainability Community |language=en}}</ref> This would damage local biodiversity,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deep Sea Mining May Start in 2023, but Environmental Questions Persist |url=https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/deep-sea-mining-may-start-in-2023-but-environmental-questions-persist |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=The Maritime Executive |language=en}}</ref> but proponents point out that biomass on resource-rich seabeds is much scarcer than in the mining regions on land, which are often found in vulnerable habitats like rainforests.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The world needs more battery metals. Time to mine the seabed |url=https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/07/06/the-world-needs-more-battery-metals-time-to-mine-the-seabed |access-date=2024-05-31 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

Due to co-occurrence of rare-earth and radioactive elements ([[thorium]], [[uranium]] and [[radium]]), rare-earth mining results in production of low-level [[radioactive waste]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/radioactive-waste-standoff-could-slash-high-tech-s-supply-rare-earth-elements|title=Radioactive waste standoff could slash high tech's supply of rare earth elements|last1=Law|first1=Yao-Hua|date=1 April 2019|website=Science {{!}} AAAS|access-date=23 April 2020|archive-date=1 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401184123/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/radioactive-waste-standoff-could-slash-high-tech-s-supply-rare-earth-elements|url-status=live}}</ref>