Mineral resources in the age of climate adaptation and resilience

This article discusses issues on resources availability to achieve climate adaptation and resilience for cities and infrastructures. In the age of climate change, there could be cascading failures through a range of infrastructure breakdowns. Direct and indirect damage costs could exceed what had been estimated in traditional risk assessments. This could be exacerbated through abrupt price peaks in international supply chains of minerals, and through events happening in remote parts of the world that affect extraction and vulnerable industries. The core argument made here is one of feedbacks: climate adaptation has significant resource implications, and how resources are being used will have implications on climate strategies. Industrial Ecology has a role to play assessing those interactions and providing a better grasp of the spatial dimension of material flows, partly to track those flows and align them to specific actors, and partly to address interlinkages across different flows and their stocks (‘the resource nexus’). Methodological novelties are needed to better understand the resource base and the socio‐economic dimension, especially on innovations and transitions that can help to cope with the challenges ahead. Altogether this would enable research to establish an evidence base on sustainable materials to deliver parts of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to reassess infrastructure assets and the mineral resources in the age of climate adaptation and resilience

How lithium mined from hot springs in Cornwall could boost Britain’s green tech

Cornwall, on England’s south coast, is best known these days for surfing and sandcastles. But for centuries it was world famous for its tin and copper mines. Now, a recent discovery could see a mining boom in the county once again – and the whole UK should benefit

The Coal Question: Still Alive

This is a turbulent year for commodity markets, and yet, almost unnoticed it also marks the 150 years anniversary for one of the most important books ever written on the issue. William Stanley Jevons, a professor at UCL, published his book entitled ‘The coal question – an Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of Our Coal Mines’ in 1865. His book should still serve as a useful reference for contemporary debates. So, why should such an old book be of relevance for us today? The straightforward answer is to consider it as wellspring of knowledge about the interface of geology and economics, i.e. resource economics, but I’d like to also offer three avenues worth exploring and derive some propositions for the future

The return of global governance: This time it comes with many faces

The ocean’s pollution with plastics has stirred multiple promising responses across the globe. Are we on the verge of a new type of global governance? Prof Dr Raimund Bleischwitz explains how such governance may look and what is still missin

Accelerating transitions for a Green Deal: Preparing a recovery after the pandemic

Here, Prof Dr Raimund Bleischwitz discusses the overlaps between transitioning to a Green Deal and preparing for recovery after the pandemi

Climate Emergency, solutions and the role of universities

Prof Dr Raimund Bleischwitz from UCL The Bartlett School of Environment Energy & Resources (BSEER) tells us about a new socio-political movement, which uses nonviolent resistance to protest against a potential climate breakdown and ecological collapse, and the transformational power of universitie

Der Ressourcen-Nexus als Frühwarnsystem für zukünftige zwischenstaatliche Konflikte

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag analysiert den Ressourcen-Nexus, das heißt das Wirkungsgeflecht zwischen Nutzungsformen natürlicher Ressourcen, als Thema der Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik. Er diskutiert das Zusammenwirken von Energie, Wasser, Nahrungsmitteln, Land und mineralischen Rohstoffen im Lichte der aktuellen Debatten und analysiert mögliche Konflikte und Chancen, die sich daraus ergeben. Diese Debatte gewinnt Einfluss, weil sie Akteure aus unterschiedlichen Politikbereichen zusammenführt. Der Artikel entwickelt erste Schritte, wie diese Thematik angegangen werden kann und wie ein Frühwarnsystem aussehen könnte. Deutschland könnte im Zuge einer wachsenden Verantwortung eine internationale Initiative zum Ressourcen-Nexus initiieren. Abstract The article analyses the resource nexus, i.e. interlinkages among the resources energy, water, food, land, and minerals as a challenge for foreign policy. Reviewing recent debates it underlines both potential conflicts and opportunities. The debate is gaining ground as many actors from a variety of policy areas express stakes in it. The article derives steps on encountering the challenges ahead and develops elements of a risk radar. Germany may accept international responsibility and initiate an international forum on the resource nexus

A Green New Deal for Europe

Here, Raimund Bleischwitz from University College London, Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources (UCL BSEER), proposes a Green New Deal for Europe that is able to deliver prosperity to the people and worldwide

The Water-Energy Nexus of Brazil’s Hydropower’

This chapter assesses the water use of hydropower in Brazil, shedding light on the scale of the water cycle and the resilience of hydropower under accelerating climate change conditions. Recent droughts unveiled increasing risks and highlighted a lack of methodological approaches and well-defined metrics. We present a novel detailed spatiotemporal scenario analysis of evaporation and the water footprint for the period 2015–2049. Our model predicts an evaporation increase of ~90▒mm, assuming temperature increases by just 1 °C, and we expect increases in water footprint values. These impacts are strongest in Brazil’s Northeast, putting this region at highest risk for energy resilience in the future. We conclude on a need for stricter and more comprehensive water impact assessments for future hydroelectricity plans. Our analysis calls for an overhaul of the electricity system of Brazil, with more integration across regions, upscaling wind and solar, and broader Factor X strategies as sustainable pathways for Brazil