Critical minerals

In this episode, Professor Susan Park will unpack what are critical minerals and why they are key in our fight against climate change? Renewable energy is vital for the rapid global decarbonisation needed to reduce global warming. Yet renewable technologies comprise of rare earth elements like copper, cobalt and lithium, whose extraction and refinement process come with many significant environmental and social costs. How can we establish governance mechanisms that ensure just and equitable outcomes in the extraction of critical minerals?

We delve into the 'friend-shoring' of supply chains of critical minerals, a practice that is reshaping traditional offshore dependencies and altering the global landscape. With prominent global players like China, USA, Australia, and the European Union taking an avid interest, we examine the strategic underpinnings that underscore the quest for these essential minerals.

Featuring: Susan Park is Professor of Global Governance in International Relations at the University of Sydney and lead of the Sydney Environment Institute's Transitioning Systems theme. She focuses on how international organisations and global governance can become greener and more accountable, particularly in the transition to renewable energy. She has been a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, the Technical University of Munich, American University, and the Centennial Centre in Washington DC. Her work has been funded by the Australian, Canadian, British and German governments.

Produced by: Genevieve Wright

Edited by: Celine Huynh

Music:

• Awaken Alone by LATG Music
• Creative Awakening by Evocativ
• Moons of Mercury by Evergreen
• Mind Game by LATG Music

In this episode, Professor Susan Parks sits down with geographer Dr Lian Sinclair to understand how critical minerals impact the communities and environments they interact with along their global production networks. They’ll discuss the geo-economic politics, power struggles and conflicts that are arising within these supply chains and the impacts at the local scale where the mines are located.

The episode will explore how Australia is positioning itself as a critical minerals powerhouse with state investment in refinement infrastructure and they’ll question why governance standards are failing to reduce social and environmental impacts of critical minerals extraction.

Featuring:

• Susan Park is Professor of Global Governance in International Relations at the University of Sydney and lead of the Sydney Environment Institute's Transitioning Systems theme. She focuses on how international organisations and global governance can become greener and more accountable, particularly in the transition to renewable energy. She has been a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, the Technical University of Munich, American University, and the Centennial Centre in Washington DC. Her work has been funded by the Australian, Canadian, British and German governments.
• Lian Sinclair is Postdoctoral Research Associate in Geography at the University of Sydney and member of the Sydney Environment Institute. Her current research focuses on how the Australian critical minerals industry is plugging into global production networks in batteries, electric vehicles and renewable energy, and the resulting contestations around land, labour and environment. Lian’s first book Undermining resistance: Extractive accumulation, participation and governance in global capitalism is contracted for publication by Manchester University Press.

Produced by: Genevieve Wright

Edited by: Celine Huynh

Music:

• Awaken Alone by LATG Music
• Mind Game by LATG Music

In this episode, Professor Susan Parks sits down with political scientist Dr Donald Kingsbury as they delve into the contrasting experiences of mining communities in Canada, Australia, and South America. Explore the influences of mining company dynasties, extractive processes, and citizen engagement. Uncover how governments are actively de-risking the critical minerals industry and incentivising private investment. They’ll discuss how the mining industry is reducing harm thanks to pressure from labour organisations and environmental activism and where there are still areas for improvement.

Featuring:

• Susan Park is Professor of Global Governance in International Relations at the University of Sydney and lead of the Sydney Environment Institute's Transitioning Systems theme. She focuses on how international organisations and global governance can become greener and more accountable, particularly in the transition to renewable energy. She has been a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, the Technical University of Munich, American University, and the Centennial Centre in Washington DC. Her work has been funded by the Australian, Canadian, British and German governments.
• Donald Kingsbury is an Assistant Professor in Political Science and Latin American Studies and the Acting Director of the Munk One Program at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Don’s research focuses on the politics of resource extraction, energy transitions, and political ecology in our warming world. Don’s current project focuses on the emerging extractive frontier in lithium and other minerals necessary for decarbonizing technologies, and the ways in which ‘mining for the climate’ departs from and follows familiar and unequal global divisions of risk, affluence, power, and nature.

Produced by: Genevieve Wright

Edited by: Celine Huynh

Music:

• Awaken Alone by LATG Music
• Mind Game by LATG Music

In the final episode of the Unearthing Critical Minerals series, Professor Susan Park sits down with Dr Jewellord (Jojo) Nem Singh, an Assistant Professor in International Development, to understand the role the European Union (EU) is playing to reduce the environmental and social harms of critical mineral mining for renewable energy. The EU’s recently launched Critical Raw Minerals Act seeks to build a resilient critical minerals supply chain, strengthen domestic capacity and capability, and establishes a need to build a circular economy.

They emphasise the significance of tracking the EU's role as a key player in the critical minerals race. The EU's pursuit of both higher environmental standards and the success of the clean energy transition in the coming decades adds complexity to this multifaceted challenge, demanding a coordinated approach involving multiple policy instruments.

Featuring:

• Susan Park is Professor of Global Governance in International Relations at the University of Sydney and lead of the Sydney Environment Institute's Transitioning Systems theme. She focuses on how international organisations and global governance can become greener and more accountable, particularly in the transition to renewable energy. She has been a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, the Technical University of Munich, American University, and the Centennial Centre in Washington DC. Her work has been funded by the Australian, Canadian, British and German governments.
• Jewellord (Jojo) Nem Singh is an Assistant Professor in International Development at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, part of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research looks at the political economy of industrial policy and development planning in the global south; politics and governance of natural resources; citizenship and social movements perspectives on democratization; and the developmental consequences of the rise of China.

Produced by: Genevieve Wright

Edited by: Celine Huynh

Music:

• Awaken Alone by LATG Music
• Mind Game by LATG Music