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Freeman – Conflict and Supply Risks in Critical Materials for the Energy Transition

 

Conflict and Supply Risks in Critical Materials for the Energy Transition (2024)

Undergraduate: Sophia Freeman


Faculty Advisor: Robert Jenkins
Department: Political Science

This research investigates the relationships between conflicts and the resources necessary to promote a clean energy transition, including lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, and rare earth elements. It documents the current production and extraction of these resources, including the countries of origin and major global actors involved in the process. The next step will be to identify conflicts that have arisen around the extraction and production of these resources, including conflicts related to property rights, labor issues, ethnic and civil war, and international civil and military conflicts. Finally, the project explores the approaches of the US government and the European Union to balancing conflict resolution with the need for critical resources for the clean energy transition. Ultimately, this research provides insight into the role of resource control in fueling conflict and the potential for peaceful resolution of such conflicts in the context of clean energy transitions. This presentation summarizes such findings.

Link to Abstract