The nickel nexus: mapping the frontiers of carbon neutrality

Voskoboynik, Daniel Macmillen; Farrugia, JD

doi:http://doi.org/10.31009/jhu.upf.ppc.2022.sr01

The nickel nexus: mapping the frontiers of carbon neutrality

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Voskoboynik, D, Farrugia, J. The nickel nexus: mapping the frontiers of carbon neutrality. 2022. doi: 10.31009/jhu.upf.ppc.2022.sr01

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Abstract

The climate crisis is deepening and accelerating, and in response several initiatives, such as Green New Deal proposals which are centred on decarbonising the energy system, are promoting a transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy generation. Yet, new energy, mining and infrastructural frontiers are encroaching upon communities and territories across the globe, therefore such a transition is itself associated with potentially grave socio-environmental impacts. Nickel is key to several electric and renewable technologies, and its demand is set to increase six-fold by 2030, driven particularly by automotive electrification. Yet nickel is a contentious metal, because its extraction, processing and smelting are technically intricate, highly polluting, and en- ergy-intensive processes. This report focuses on the case of nickel, and contributes to the emerging research on “transition minerals”. More specifically, this report, informed by a literature review, employs a critical Global Production Network approach to analyse the relationship between the increasing demand for nickel in some world regions, and the socio-environmental impacts of its extraction, processing and waste created in others as a result. In addition, by exploring the nickel mining projects from around the world and their related socio-ecological conflicts, the consequences of nickel extraction, processing and end-of-life are examined, demonstrating how nickel projects are situated at the centre of intense land, water and human conflicts. Moreover, by examining nickel’s emerging fault lines based on future demand scenarios, reflections are made on which ecologies and populations are affected by the increased demand of nickel. This analysis enables us to reflect on some of the potential socio-environmental contradictions of Green New Deals and related approaches that will need to be mitigated. A pressing challenge is still how to overcome such unjust and unsustainable mineral extraction, and build a fairer and more sustainable model of extraction in the face of the current climate emergency. The report concludes with the need for more in depth, critical and transdisciplinary analyses of the diverse impacts of nickel - and other raw mineral - extraction to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problems. This knowledge can then be used to inform more effective local and global policies and actions aiming to support the transition away from high-carbon energy systems and intensive material extractivism. Finally, a range of policy recommendations are presented as potential ways to work towards a socially and environmentally just economy that supports and protects the world’s ecosystems and vulnerable populations whilst tackling climate change through innovative and sustainable practices.