Conscious of the urgent impacts of climate change in the United States, President Biden has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by half from 2005 levels by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The Administration's main policy in support of these climate goals is decarbonizing the transportation and power sectors with the support of more energy storage. Executive Order 14037 requires half of all new battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and fuel cell electric vehicles sold nationwide be carbon-free by 2030, and Executive Order 14057 requires federal government procurements to cut all carbon emissions from the electric sector by 2035 and acquire 100 percent zero-emission vehicles by 2027. To fulfill this climate agenda, a substantial increase in non-fuel minerals and metals is needed to manufacture zero-emission vehicles, renewable technologies, and batteries.
The Administration’s initial report on Executive Order 1417 notes that, according to the International Energy Agency:
· building an electric car requires six times more mineral resources than building a gasoline-powered car, and
· building an onshore wind power plant requires nine times more minerals than building a gas-fired power plant.
The International Energy Agency has also demonstrated that building batteries requires more minerals than building other energy sources and technologies.
According to Wood Mackenzie, Biden’s decarbonization plan would increase demand for battery supply from the current 46 GWh per year to 600 GWh per year, requiring 13 times the amount of minerals needed today. Examples of minerals that are important for renewable energy include rare earth permanent magnets, cobalt, manganese, lithium, nickel, and graphite for vehicle batteries and grid storage, and gallium for LEDs lights and electronics chips in solar and wind systems. Among rechargeable batteries, demand is highest for lithium batteries because they have the highest overall technical performance: longer lifespan (3,000 charging-discharging cycles) with 80 percent of usable power out of its total energy supply capacity, larger power output per volume, highest energy stored per kilogram of battery, and lighter weight. Crucial raw materials involved in the construction of lithium batteries include cobalt, nickel, manganese, and lithium.
The U.S. ambition to decarbonize its transportation and power sectors by achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 multiplies the demand for zero-emissions vehicles, renewable energy technologies, and energy storage. This increased demand in turn fosters higher requirements for raw non-fuel minerals and metals. For the best chance of success in achieving net zero emissions in the United States, the Biden Administration must take into consideration the market for—and environmental and political concerns related to—these raw materials.
