Perrine Fournier is a forest and mining campaigner at forests and rights NGO Fern.
Our fossil fuel addiction must end for humanity to have a livable future.
An important element in stopping this dependency is switching from vehicles that spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to electric vehicles (EVs), which pollute far less. Yet the path to a low-carbon world is full of potential pitfalls. A major one is the impact that mining for the critical materials needed to power EVs has on forests and peoples’ lives.
A new study shows that it doesn’t have to be this way.
According to researchers from the French think-tank négaWatt and the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna), a combination of measures – including, crucially, using less mineral-reliant battery technologies – could avert the damage we’re already seeing unfold in the stampede to secure the materials required for EVs.
European v Chinese batteries
Battery technology plays a critical role in deforestation patterns – and the type of battery used in EVs significantly affects deforestation levels.
At present, the most common batteries used for EVs in Europe are NMC 811, which require substantial amounts of cobalt, copper and nickel – all linked to high deforestation.
In contrast, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries do not contain cobalt and nickel. Instead, they rely on materials which do not sit under tropical forests, such as iron.
Until now, the European Union (EU) has invested heavily in NMC battery technologies, while Chinese producers have honed and mastered LFP battery technology.
The researchers modelled – for the first time – the potential deforestation from future EU demand for EVs through to 2050.
Under a business-as-usual scenario and if high-deforestation NMC 811 battery technologies dominate, the EU’s future demand for electric vehicles could cause the loss of 118,000 hectares of forest by 2050 — that’s the equivalent of 18 football fields disappearing every day for the next 25 years.
This is only the tip of the iceberg.
Explainer: How green are batteries for electric vehicles?
While the study evaluated direct deforestation caused by mining for iron, bauxite, copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt, it did not address the vast indirect deforestation mining causes: including clearing forests for surrounding settlements and for infrastructure for energy and transport. A 2022 peer-reviewed paper found that industrial mining causes indirect deforestation in two-thirds of tropical countries.
Ways to avert disaster
Fossil fuel interests and climate change deniers use reports of the dark underside of mining for critical materials to try to frustrate the transition from petroleum-powered transport to EVs.
For instance, Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of nickel, which is defined as a ‘critical mineral’ because it’s an essential component of EV batteries. But the rapid growth in nickel mining to meet rising demand is ruining local peoples’ lives and causing rampant deforestation.
A similarly depressing tale can be told of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world’s number one supplier of cobalt, a metal that is also key for EV battery production. The impact of cobalt mining in the central African nation is well-documented, including forced evictions and other human rights abuses, as well as environmental pollution.
These are not isolated examples.
Indonesia turns traditional Indigenous land into nickel industrial zone
But rather than heeding the powerful forces trying to roll back measures to protect the planet, we must find ways to mitigate the damage.
The study, commissioned by Fern and Rainforest Foundation Norway, outlines a credible way to do so: modelling a pathway for the EU’s EV sector which would decrease its projected deforestation footprint by 82%.
As well as adopting different battery technology, the researchers detail how the negative impact on forests could be further reduced by establishing national “no-go zones” for mining, favouring countries with lower deforestation risks, and enforcing strict due diligence.
As societies, we also need to use fewer resources and rethink what we truly need. In concrete terms, the researchers show this means adopting policies that reduce metal demand by promoting public transport, shared mobility and smaller vehicles.
In combination, these measures – improved battery technology, better sourcing of critical materials and more public services like trains and buses – could have a profound impact in helping protect the world’s forests from the ravages of mining, and ensuring that cleaner transport doesn’t have to cost the Earth.
