Why green energy means mining: the case of cobalt

POLITICO's Off Message

POLITICO

News, Daily News, Politics

4.5 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Off Message" presents Episode 6 of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": To understand how essential critical minerals are to our world, we turn to a case study: cobalt. This mineral is proving key to the future of green energy, defense and high tech manufacturing — not to mention electric vehicles. But cobalt has its challenges. Hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath look at China’s dominant role in global cobalt mining and the serious problems that can arise if other countries can't get enough supplies.Luiza Savage is the host of "Global Translations".Ryan Heath is a host of "Global Translations". Annie Rees is a producer for POLITICO Audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO Audio. Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.Nedal T. Nassar is Chief of Materials Flow Analysis Section at the U.S. Geological Survey.Bryce Crocker is the CEO of Jervois MiningAimee Boulanger is the executive director of Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA)Read Luiza Savage's article on how America got outmaneuvered in a critical mining race:https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/02/china-cobalt-mining-441967And check out the other POLITICO newsletters: Global Translations: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/global-translationsMorning Energy: https://www.politico.com/morningenergy/The Long Game: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/the-long-gameChina Watcher: politico.com/chinaMorning Tech: https://www.politico.com/morningtech/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The fight against climate change has some powerful allies.
0:03.6	We're seeing some of the world's largest financial players starting to integrate climate risk into how they evaluate their portfolios.
0:11.2	Stay tuned for a special branded episode of Global Translations, presented by City, right here on December 16th.
0:19.7	Ryan, when you hear the word cobalt, what's the first thing that pops into your mind?
0:24.6	Really?
0:26.6	Well, honestly, it's a guy called Dag Hammishkoll.
0:30.6	Dag what?
0:31.6	Dag Hammerskoll.
0:33.6	He was a United Nations Secretary General, so the top bureaucrat, and he died in a mysterious plane crash in Congo in 1961.
0:42.3	But what does that have to do with Cobalt?
0:46.3	Well, his plane fell out of the sky, or maybe it was shot down.
0:49.3	He met death.
0:50.3	Oh my God.
0:51.3	I mean, that's the thing we don't know.
0:52.3	And it was during a dispute over cobalt mining rights.
0:55.7	And it's been a true unsolved mystery for six decades, the poor guy.
0:58.9	That really sounds like a spy thriller.
1:01.7	It really was.
1:02.5	It was Cold War meets colonialism, meets billion-dollar treasures hidden in the jungle.
1:07.5	Oh my gosh.
1:08.1	Well, I mean, my thought is way less dramatic.
1:13.6	Cobalt makes me think of cobalt blue, like that color, that intense blue color in blue
	...

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