Australia needs to quickly ramp up the production of critical minerals for the world to avoid the worst outcomes of global heating but the door has shut on new gas projects or coal mines, according to the International Energy Agency.
Even under governments’ current stated policies that would allow the globe to heat by 2.5 degrees by 2050, the IEA predicts an end to growth for all three fossil fuels. Coal demand would start declining in a few years, gas use plateau late this decade and oil consumption level off in the mid-2030s. The war in Ukraine has damaged other gas producer marketing points with the IEA now predicting reduced gas use on the road to net-zero due to it being considered as less affordable and secure than 12 months ago.
Gas would continue to fetch current high prices in China and Japan for several decades if governments do no more than their stated policies and the world heats by 2.5 degrees while a path to net zero sees those prices halve. To achieve net zero, annual lithium production must increase 50 times by 2050 with nickel up 12 times, graphite nine times and cobalt six times.
The IEA warned that investment in new mines needed to increase quickly and significantly as while a battery factory could be built in two years, developing a new mine took much longer.
PeteMilne4 Beautiful clean coal
PeteMilne4 Global coal consumption is at record highs and so are coal prices. What a hack.
PeteMilne4 Now time for some Reality.
PeteMilne4 ‘Coal power is on track to hit a new global record…all time high in 2022’. The Guardian. Our entire way of life is underwritten by mineral and energy extraction. If only there was a real life example of putting all your energy needs in one basket…Germany?
PeteMilne4 Wrong. Australia has a minuscule impact on global climate. Look at China or India or Asia