Why Japan’s utility firms want to pull the plug on destination restrictions for LNG supply
A hardened feature of long-term LNG contracts, the destination clause, is coming under renewed scrutiny as the quest for flexibility gathers momentum.
Energy Explained
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
U.S. State Actions to Help Fossil Fuel Communities Navigate the Energy Transition
The world has committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels to avoid the most severe threats of climate change.[1] Communities across the United States rely on fossil fuel...
Podcasts
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Inside the 2024 World Energy Outlook
Rising electricity demand. Heightened geopolitical tension. Fragility in energy markets. These are some of the big stories shaping the energy transition outlined in the International Energy Agency’s newest...
Events
Find out more about our upcoming and past events.
November 21, 2024
• 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
est
Careers in Sustainable Startups
Gender disparities in entrepreneurship are stark. Only one in every three businesses is owned by a woman.
Event
• Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
This is the second episode of a five-part series exploring the lithium-ion battery supply chain. If you haven’t listened to the first episode, we recommend you start there.
Season 4, Episode 2
We need to increase critical mineral production fast to electrify our world. Can we do it without harming local communities and the environment?
To produce enough batteries to reach global net-zero goals, the International Energy Agency says we’ll need to increase production of critical minerals by six fold by 2040. It’s a monumental task.
It can feel like a contradictory mission. To save the planet, we have to mine more minerals; but mining and processing those minerals increases emissions and often negatively impacts indigenous communities and the environment.
In this episode, we start at the beginning of the battery supply chain—lithium mining.
We’ll ask why so much rides on where and how we source lithium, and whether we can balance growing demand with local communities and the land.
More Episodes
The Battery Recycling Dilemma
So far over this season we've traced the global lithium-ion battery supply chain from mining to processing to manufacturing. And we've put it all into a geopolitical and economic context.
The Big Switch Podcast
• March 27, 2024
The Great Battery Manufacturing Race
China has been the world's biggest battery manufacturer for over a decade. By 2022, according to the IEA, China manufactured 76% of the world's batteries. But that's changing.
The Big Switch Podcast
• March 20, 2024
The High Stakes for Battery Ingredients
Batteries can replace gasoline in our cars, or diesel in our generators with electricity. But batteries and petroleum-based fuels share something in common: they both rely on energy-intensive processes to turn extracted materials into something useful.
The Big Switch Podcast
• March 13, 2024
Are Batteries the New Oil?
Season 4, Episode 1 Batteries are at the center of the clean energy economy. Will they shape geopolitics in similar ways to oil? We need to electrify much...
The Big Switch Podcast
• February 28, 2024
Relevant
Publications
How the Next US President Could Shape Energy and Climate Policy
November’s election for president of the United States will have crucial implications for the nation’s and world’s energy and climate policies.
Blog
by Jason Bordoff, Karen E. Young, Erica Downs, Shayak Sengupta, Gautam Jain, Robert (RJ) Johnston, Ira Joseph, Luisa Palacios, Diego Rivera Rivota, Jonathan Elkind, Anne-Sophie Corbeau & Noah Kaufman • October 15, 2024
Modernizing Africa’s Lobito Railway Can Strengthen Critical Mineral Supply and Local Energy Access
Revitalization and expansion of the Lobito Corridor, which spans Angola’s Lobito Port to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, is poised to reshape Southern Africa’s economic...
The Large Benefits of a Small Pivot from a President Harris on Climate Tariffs
President Biden has merged the nation’s climate and trade policy strategies, with tariffs as a defining feature.[1] Duties have been imposed on imports of solar panels, steel, aluminum,...
Strengthening the US EV Battery Recycling Industry to Onshore Critical Material Supply
The Biden administration has stressed that building domestic electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling capacity is necessary to achieve critical material supply chain resilience and to meet the US energy transition goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
