The race for critical raw materials: challenges for resilience, sustainability and equity

This workshop invites experts from various perspectives to share their insights on achieving the multiple goals of accelerating innovation for the low carbon transition, de-risking CRM supply chains, and ensuring resilience, sustainability, and equitable economic development among the different actors and geographical systems involved.

Critical raw materials (CRMs), such as cobalt and lithium, are essential inputs for the low carbon transition and the intertwined digital transition, serving as a (so far) irreplaceable material basis for technological change. Yet, their growing importance has raised two primary concerns. One concern is the security of supply, with recent disruptions in global supply chains exposing the vulnerability of geographical regions, such as Europe, that have limited domestic availability of CRMs. Another concern focuses on the social and environmental impacts of mining CRMs, particularly in developing countries. This has led to growing calls for a more secure and sustainable supply of CRMs. For instance, the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and the UK Critical Mineral Strategy aim to make European economies more resilient, autonomous, and sustainable. Among their objectives are to diversify supply sources, increase domestic mineral production, and accelerate innovation for material substitution. They also seek to foster increased circularity of critical materials, mitigate negative social and environmental impacts in mining, and promote economic development in third countries.

Timeline

- Short introduction by the Princesa de Asturias Chair and Cañada Blanch Centre Director, Andres Rodriguez-Pose (LSE)

- Introduction of the speakers, Simona Iammarino (University of Cagliari and Cañada Blanch Centre LSE)

- CRMs and paradigm shifts: technology, environment and development, Richard Perkings (LSE)

- CRM supply: can small-scale mining make a difference?, Gavin Hilson (University of Surrey)

- CRM and the justice implications of regulatory frameworks, Aleksandra Čavoški (University of Birmingham)

- Big mining, how it governs sustainability and its relationship with civil society, Daniel Litvin (ERM, Critical Resource)

Meet our speakers

Alexandra Čavoški is a professor of environmental law and the Director of Global Engagement for the College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham. She is also the Deputy Director of the Centre for Environmental Research and Justice (CERJ) at the University of Birmingham. Her research agenda is inter-disciplinary and explores the intersection of law and other disciplines, in particular politics, science, and public policy. She is the Editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Law Review.

Gavin Hilson is Professor and Chair of Sustainability in Business at the University of Surrey, and a leading global authority on the environmental and social impacts of the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. He has published over 300 journal articles, book chapters and reports on the subject, and has delivered talks on ASM at the United Nations, the World Bank and several universities worldwide. Gavin has also provided consultancy services for a range of national and international organizations on ASM. He carries out most of his fieldwork in sub-Saharan Africa.

Daniel Litvin founded Critical Resource in 2006 and grew it to be a leading advisor to energy and mining firms on sustainability, ‘ESG’ and geopolitical risks. Critical Resource was acquired by ERM, the world’s largest pure-play sustainability consulting firm, in 2020. Daniel is now Senior Advisor to the Executive Committee of ERM. He has also been a senior research fellow at Chatham House and is currently a visiting senior fellow at the Grantham Institute at LSE. He is author of the book Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility. He has recently founded a new venture focused on reducing conflict around natural resources called ‘Resource Resolutions’.

Richard Perkins is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and an associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. He is also the Director of the MSc in Environmental Policy & Regulation. Richard’s research interests focus on the governance of climate and environmental change by both public and private actors. His most recent work examines the legitimation and effects of sustainable finance.

Meet our moderator

Simona Iammarino is Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Cagliari, Italy; Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography & Environment at LSE; member of the Board of the LSE-Cañada Blanch Centre; affiliate faculty member at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) L’Aquila, Italy. She was Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE (2009-2022), where she acted as Head of Department (2014-2017) and academic member of the LSE Council (2016-2020).

Meet our chair

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose is the Princesa de Asturias Chair and Professor of Economic Geography at LSE. He is the Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre LSE. He is a former head of the Department of Geography and Environment between 2006 and 2009. He is a past-president of the Regional Science Association International (2015-2017) and served as Vice-President of the RSAI in 2014. He was also Vice-President (2012-2013) and Secretary (2001-2005) of the European Regional Science Association.

More about this event

The Cañada-Blanch Centre at LSE is the vehicle to achieve the objective of the Fundación Cañada Blanch: developing and reinforcing the links between the United Kingdom and Spain. This is done by means of fostering cutting-edge knowledge generation and joint research projects between researchers in the United Kingdom, and at the LSE in particular, on the one hand, and Spain, on the other.

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