The fight against climate change is now a major challenge, as it is crucial for maintaining life on Earth
as we know it. Yet, it is not the only environmental issue we face. Biodiversity collapse; air, water, and soil pollution; and the eutrophication of aquatic environments are all important and often interconnected. We know these problems are caused by many human activities, such as mineral extraction and metallurgy. But is it even possible to halt this extraction in the short, medium, or long term?

To limit the increase in the Earth’s temperature as much as possible, we must reduce greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions. And yet, efforts to decarbonise human activities in many industries will increase the
consumption of mineral resources and associated environmental impacts. This will become more of a
problem in the future, as the energy transition currently contributes a tiny share of the mining and
metallurgy industry’s impact. To fully understand this impact, we must assess the use of metals
overall, not just in the energy transition.

This raises several questions: How can we determine our true need for metals to ensure good living
conditions while enacting the energy transition? How can we prioritise these needs to achieve the
energy transition while reducing extraction? And how can we ensure equitable global access to mineral resources?

The Minimal project, developed by the French not-for-profit Association négaWatt, aims to answer
these questions and many others. This project will take an in-depth look at possible shifts in the
production and consumption of various critical metals for the energy transition and/or whose
extraction is particularly damaging to the environment. The project will cover the following metals:
● Major industrial metals: copper, nickel, aluminium, and iron are produced in large quantities for
important uses (infrastructure, construction, transport, industry, and electric power transmission)
with just as significant an impact.
● Smaller-scale metals: lithium, neodymium, and cobalt are produced in fairly small quantities
each year. However, they are considered strategic metals for certain applications in the energy
transition.
● One precious metal: gold is produced in low volumes from very low-grade deposits. This means
gold mining occurs in huge mines with major negative impacts, even though it is primarily
destined for non-essential uses.

This report presents our study of the first metal in the Minimal project: lithium.

Key messages from the full report.