this is exactly why SA should be pushing for a battery materials processing hub, car makers are demanding sustainably sourced materials. Processing these materials is very energy intensive and SA has one of the most sustainable grids in the world and huge potential for more renewables. Make hay while the sunshines in more ways than one!
Carmakers pressure supply chains for cleaner lithiumBy Jackson GrahamApril 12, 2022 — 12.05amCarmakers are stepping up pressure on Australian lithium miners to target deeper greenhouse gas emissions cuts across their operations, as the environmental cost of sourcing electric vehicle components faces rising scrutiny.The pressure is forcing miners to commit to gradually decarbonise their lithium operations while smaller operators are promising to supply materials with a net-zero carbon footprint immediately.Lithium miners are increasingly working to make their operations cleaner as carmakers race to have fewer emissions in supply ns. SUPPLIEDASX-listed Allkem, valued at $8 billion, said its customers had become increasingly sensitive to the environmental impact of sourcing lithium.Carmakers, including Toyota with which Allkem has a partnership, have started notifying suppliers of their intention to cut their carbon footprint by as much as 80 per cent by 2030 for their EVs.“They are already telling us this, we need to lower carbon dioxide intensity,” the miner’s chief sales officer, Christian Cortes, said. “They want to reduce [emissions] in what they give to the consumer by 80 per cent [compared to] where they are today.”Allkem’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint are centred on its Argentinian brine and Canadian hard rock mines where it can use renewable energy to power operations and ship a near-pure lithium product with less waste than at its Western Australia-based mine, which has an expected end of life in 2027.“If we’re not active on ensuring that we’re not just passing carbon credits along the value chain then I don’t think we’re doing enough on effectively standing behind the whole aspect of sustainability,” Cortes said.Lake Resources chair Stu Crow, who on Monday announced an offtake agreement with Ford Motors sourced from a brine in Argentina, said financing was increasingly connected with a supplier’s environmental social and governance criteria, as investors, off-takers and customers demand projects meet strict standards.Carmakers committed to manufacturing EV models using net-zero emissions are already signing letters of intention with suppliers they usually wouldn’t deal directly with. Swedish EV brand Polestar’s climate lead Lisa Bolin said the company would pressure suppliers beyond immediate contractors when sourcing for the climate-neutral vehicle it plans to offer by 2030. Polestar is jointly owned by Volvo and the automaker’s Chinese parent company, Geely.“That’s traditionally not how we have been sourcing,” Bolin said. “But for the Polestar 0 project, that will not be time efficient.”RELATED ARTICLEMININGCarmakers racing for lithium have been ‘asleep at the wheel’Bolin said Polestar’s other projects were also putting environmental and social requirements on immediate suppliers, signalling expectations to suppliers further down the chain.“It’s still going through the other suppliers but for aluminium for example, we’re putting forward requirements like you can’t buy aluminium with coal-powered smelting,” she said.“In the future I can see if you’re not decarbonising, you might be disqualified in the sourcing.”Regulations in Europe will require a declaration with electric vehicle batteries from 2027 that shows the amount of recycled cobalt, lead, lithium and nickel, before setting minimum levels of recycled content from 2030.Carmakers proposing net-zero carbon electric vehicles inspired Vulcan Energy Resources, backed by Gina Rinehart and son John Hancock, to commit to produce a zero-carbon lithium from hot underground springs in Germany by 2024.“It’s quite hard to decarbonise fully using hard rock mining and that’s why we’ve chosen this particular route,” Vulcan chief executive Francis Wedin said.“There’s a huge market on the doorstep of Australia in terms of the Asian markets and lithium is chronically under supplied, so product from Australia will definitely still find a home.”
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