The War Below: AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 TODAY: Lithium, copper, and the global battle to power our lives

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A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR FOR 2024
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION, AND FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

The trillion-dollar battle for the resources to power our future. Oil and gas defined the twentieth century. Now lithium, copper, cobalt, rare earths and nickel will define the twenty-first.

The world is moving towards replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. But building electric vehicles, solar panels, and millions of other devices requires digging more mines. Critical minerals are vital to many sustainable technologies, and the competition for them is intensifying.

Nations aspiring to energy independence are ever more intertwined: a hedge fund manager's attempt to revive rare earths mining in California needs Chinese expertise, and global reliance on Africa's mining sector persists despite child labour concerns. Meanwhile, ecological dilemmas abound: a proposed lithium mine in Nevada may help car manufacturers slash their dependence on fossil fuels, but developing the mine may cause the extinction of a flower found nowhere else on the planet.

As investors attempt to predict how resource extraction's geopolitics will unfold, this is a story of industry giants, researchers, and policymakers at the forefront of the new energy wars.

Reviews

''Essential reading'' - Chris Miller

''Finally, the real story of the difficulties of mining and processing enough minerals in the US to supply a green, carbon free energy transition. In this telling we confront the reality that there are no easy answers or quick fixes. We are also made uncomfortable with the ethics of wanting to preserve our beautiful places, while we rely on foreign supply chains where minerals are mined and processed with no real attention to environmental, labor, and human rights abuses'' - Heidi Heitkamp

''The War Below gives the reader a front row seat to one of the critical debates of our time: how to power the clean energy transition without adding to ecological and human harm through irresponsible mining. Scheyder's detailed storytelling and research help convey what's at stake in this new race to the bottom'' - Payal Sampat, Earthworks

Author Bio

Ernest Scheyder is a senior correspondent for Reuters, covering the green energy transition and the minerals that undergird it. He previously covered the US shale oil revolution, politics, and the environment, and held roles at the Associated Press and the Bangor Daily News. A native of Maine, Scheyder is a graduate of the University of Maine and Columbia Journalism School. Visit his website at ErnestScheyder.com.