By: Rudiger Tscherning and Brady Chapman
PDF Version: Western Canadian Lithium as a Critical and Strategic Mineral for Clean Tech Battery Storage Technologies
Matters Commented On: The Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan 2019; Review of the Alberta Mineral Development Strategy 2002 by the Alberta Mineral Advisory Council; Québec Plan for the Development of Critical and Strategic Minerals (2020-2025)
Critical and strategic minerals (CSMs), including lithium, are essential for the transition of the global economy to “net-zero.” The COVID-19 pandemic will only serve to accelerate this transition. Calls for rebuilding economies on ambitious and sustainable climate principles have become louder since the pandemic began. At a multilateral level, the April 2020 Petersberg Climate Dialogue established clear directions towards a sustainable and climate-focused post-pandemic recovery. Such recovery plans are also echoed in the European Commission’s Next Generation EU recovery plan, and the September 2020 Government of Canada’s Speech from the Throne, both of which set out clear impulses towards developing clean tech industries as part of post-pandemic economic recovery.
However, CSMs, such as lithium, have been recognized for their importance well before the pandemic. In 2019, the International Renewable Energy Agency reported that global sales of electric vehicles, which rely heavily on lithium-ion batteries, increased significantly from 500,000 units in 2015 to over 2 million units in 2018. The Bank of Canada recently cited the International Energy Agency’s projection that there will be 120 million plug-in hybrid or battery electric vehicles on the world’s roads by 2030. In Canada, the share of all electric vehicles amounted to approximately 2.3%, or 90,100 vehicles, of the total vehicle market in 2018, with 51% consisting of battery electric vehicles. In addition, the rapid scaling-up of wind and solar renewable electricity generation is not only vital for decarbonizing global energy systems, but will crucially depend on electricity storage technologies. Lithium-ion batteries are efficient and have fast charging and discharging rates, making them ideal for the large-scale implementation of renewable energy sources to meet baseload power demands.