Canary on TV: Confronting the downsides of mining for battery materials

Making the batteries to run electric vehicles and store solar power requires a lot of minerals, and mining those minerals imposes an environmental cost. I joined the Weather Channel’s climate-focused weekday show Pattrn to help weigh the pros and cons of this aspect of the clean energy transition with hosts Colleen Coyle and Molly McCollum.

Mining can be environmentally destructive, and currently the U.S. largely depends on far-flung mines around the world for its critical battery supplies. That said, the average electric vehicle still emits far less carbon over its lifetime than an equivalent gas-powered vehicle. Unlike oil and coal, battery materials can be reused indefinitely after their initial use. Battery recycling startups have raised several billion dollars and are building large-scale battery recycling factories; this could offer an alternative to new mining over the long term.