A new report from the International Energy Forum warns that global copper production may soon be critically outpaced by soaring global demand for the metal, which is a key component of many clean energy technologies. As such, the metal could soon act as an acute bottleneck in the world’s feasible pathways to meeting key climate goals by mid-century. Staying on a net-zero pathway by 2030 will require 12.
“Despite a surge in mining exploration budgets,” Mercom recently wrote, “a mere 16 out of the 224 copper deposits unearthed after 1990 were discovered within the last decade.” To be sure, it’s not that there isn’t interest and money behind developing new copper mines. After all, there’s plenty of money to be made from developing additional resources. As a result of high demand and speculation around coming shortages, the prices of copper are skyrocketing.