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Sustainability
Sustainability
The Big Story
Mining for EVs, batteries could wipe out 1/3 of African great apes
Mining companies hunting critical minerals could wipe out more than a third of Africa’s remaining great apes, a new study has found.
© Associated Press/Schalk van Zuydam
And by putting new human settlements in close proximity to the declining refugia of wild species, such a boom also risks fostering future pandemics.
The research published on Wednesday in Science Advances highlights the need for the revolution in clean energy to be accompanied by stringent protection for biodiversity.
While researchers noted that the shift away from fossil fuels was essential, its current iteration — which is dominated by a move from internal combustion engine cars to electric vehicles (EVs) of similar size and power — risked undercutting essential environmental goals.
“Companies, lenders and nations need to recognize that it may sometimes be of greater value to leave some regions untouched to mitigate climate change and help prevent future epidemics,” said coauthor Jessica Junker in a statement.
Mining booms — whether for coal or cobalt — tend to be staggeringly destructive processes: A feedback loop of new roads pushed into the forest, which draw in job-seeking colonists, who further clear habitat.
This dynamic is particularly stark in Africa, where some of the world’s largest reserves of nickel, cobalt, copper and lithium lie beneath the soil — and nearly half a million great apes live in the forests above.
About 20 percent of projects seeking funding from the World Bank overlap with ape habitat, according to the study.
While some in the financial and mining sector have begun trying to track biodiversity impacts as part of a broader move toward encoding sustainability in its lending, that practice is still in its infancy — and is deeply fragmented and often ineffective.
Currently, a major way that mining companies make up for damage to wild and habitat is by offsets — protecting new habitats to make up for the ones that are destroyed.
This tactic largely doesn’t work, according to a report by environmental nonprofit Friends of the Earth — and in the case of great apes, the Science Advances researchers couldn’t find a single case “of a great ape offset that had been successful,” they wrote in the statement.
Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I'm Saul Elbein — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world.
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Essential Reads
Latest news impacting sustainability this week and beyond:
Insurance trends are deciding where Americans will live as planet heats
Climate change and generations of US housing and development policy are making homes, neighborhoods, and entire municipalities riskier to insure, undermining the ability of Americans to live where they choose. The current face of this crisis is a nationwide withdrawal by the insurance industry from regions threatened by wildfires and hurricanes, particularly along the Gulf Coast and California. While there are other …
Full Story California emits more of this little-known greenhouse gas than all other US states combined
California, a state known for advancing some of the strictest climate policies in the country, is the nation’s top emitter of a little-known — but very persistent — greenhouse gas, a new study has found. Sulfuryl fluoride, a common pesticide for treating termites and other wood-infesting insects, lingers in the atmosphere for more than 40 years — where it traps heat and sends it back down to Earth, according to the study, …
Full Story Federal court finalizes ‘forever chemical’ settlement between 3M, water systems for billions
A federal district court judge has granted final approval to a multibillion-dollar settlement between public water suppliers affected by “forever chemicals” and the company 3M, the parties announced Monday. Per the terms of the agreement, the Minnesota-based chemical manufacturer will pay these utilities between $10.5 billion and $12.5 billion, depending on the extent of contamination and adhering to a payment schedule that …
Full Story In 2018, Republicans accidentally legalized cannabis. Now 22 AGs want them to undo it
A coalition of 22 state attorneys general is calling on Congress to address “the glaring vagueness” that has led to legal cannabis products being sold over the counter across the country — including sometimes from vending machines or online.
Full Story EV Q&A
Why the federal highway chief thinks EVs are a bipartisan win
© Tierney L. Cross
Over the past year, the Republican Party has amped up its attacks on electric vehicles (EVs) — which in the wake of new environmental standards, GOP members have portrayed as being forced on the American people by the Biden administration.
“The Biden administration is deciding for Americans which kind of cars they are allowed to buy, rent and drive,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment Committee.
The Biden administration is pushing back.
Earlier this month, The Hill caught up with Shailen Bhatt, head of the Federal Highway Administration, who was in Las Vegas promoting administration plans around EVs.
Sustainability: There’s a narrative on the Republican side that consumers don’t want EVs, and the Biden administration is trying to force it on them. What would you say to that?
Shailen Bhatt: There was probably too much exuberance around how quickly EVs would be adopted back in 2020 to 2022.
But at the same time — last year in the U.S., 10 percent of new car sales were EVs. In China, that number is 30 percent; if you look at the EU, they’re driving more and more EVs.
[And that underscores] how important EVs are globally — and how important it is that America manufactures those EVs.
And the other part I want to highlight is: when I go around the country and meet with governors, Gov. [Gretchen] Whitmer [D-Mich.] is really excited about EVs — but so is [Republican] Gov. Kay Ivey in Alabama, and Gov. Kemp [R] in Georgia. President Trump was working with General Motors to get them to work with Lordstown motors to build trucks.
So, I think it’s a huge job creator; a huge opportunity — and we want Americans to buy EVs made in America, and to build a charging network that is made by Americans as well.
That’s a good segue to the question of: How do we get to the universal car charger — something like the USB-C of EV charging?
SB: Two years ago, we wouldn't, you know, there were like six different charging standards out there. And I think one of the great things of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investing $7.5 billion in the charging network is that the private sector has coalesced now around a for the most part common standard that we've now incorporated.
And now we're getting into making sure that if these are the power requirements, now, how do we make sure that — as even faster chargers and more powerful batteries are coming out — we are working with the Department of Energy to make sure that there's enough power in the grid to make sure that we're able to provide energy to all of these cars in the coming years.
In the environmental world, there’s increasingly talk about thinking about highways as something like pipelines: A very efficient method for burning more carbon and warming the planet. What is the long-term vision for highways in a carbon-conscious world?
We absolutely need to be looking at how we reduce the carbon footprint of highways — and EVs are an incredibly important part of that, as is active transportation like biking, and walking.
But in the majority of the country, a century of infrastructure and automobile development that has been centered around the internal combustion engine (ICE). So if we just come out tomorrow and say, no more highways, no more cars are no more ICE cars — that doesn't work in vast swaths of the country.
But in every single state, their departments of transportation are moving forward on their EV funding.
It's really hard for us in this country to do big things, whether it's gun control, or, you know, tackling climate challenges.
But around the climate issue. I think there's real opportunity — through EV adoption, through active transportation for us to finally start to, you know, reduce the amount of [greenhouse gases] we produce, and I'm really excited about the potential.
On Our Radar
Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:
- A new report found that as two-thirds of farmers are turned away from federal conservation programs, about 11 percent of those funds are going to practices — like anaerobic digesters and large-scale irrigation — that only the biggest farmers can access, and that arguably hamper federal goals around climate and water preservation.
In Other News
Branch out with different reads from The Hill:
Texas, California dominated wind and solar power generation in 2023: Report
Oil-producing red states like Texas and Oklahoma led the nation in wind energy generation in 2023, while Texas was also among the leaders in solar generation, according to a report from the nonprofit Climate Central.
Full Story ‘I wouldn’t put my damn daughter in these’: Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ lurk in feminine products
Jessian Choy had worn Thinx menstrual underwear for years before she learned they contained “forever chemicals.”
Full Story Around The Nation
Local and state headlines on sustainability issues:
- Storms cause damage across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee; millions still face severe weather warnings (CBS)
- Federal EV charging stations are key to Biden's climate agenda, yet only 4 states have them (The Associated Press)
- The EPA wanted to clean up steel mills. Then a group of Rust Belt senators got involved. (Grist)
What We're Reading
Sustainability news we've flagged from other outlets:
- US experienced staggering growth in solar and wind power over the last decade (Grist)
- Car companies have been screwing up e-bikes for longer than you think (Electrek)
- Tesla has a big competitor. And it is China’s BYD (CNN Business)
- Botswana threatens to deport 20,000 elephants to Germany (Politico Europe)
What Others are Reading
More stories on The Hill right now:
Toxic toads that can kill pets in minutes are breeding in Florida
Thousands of highly toxic toads dangerous to pets are breeding in Florida. Read more
Most Americans support cannabis legalization for medical, recreational use: Pew
Story at a glance A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 88 percent of American adults think cannabis should be legal for medical or recreational use. Since 2012, 24 states have legalized cannabis for either medical or recreational purposes. Pew found that while most people think cannabis should be legal, opinions vary on what … Read more
What People Think
Opinions related to sustainability submitted to The Hill:
- Biden’s LNG ‘pause’ threatens Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry
- Biden’s EPA can justify his new EV rules only by cooking the books
- A coal-free New England is a victory for the entire country
You're all caught up. See you next week!
Check out The Hill's Sustainability page for the latest coverage.
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