The Rare Metals War The Dark Side of Clean Energy and Digital Technologies

About this book

The resources race is on. Powering our smartphones are some of the Earth's most precious metals – but they are running out. And what will happen when they do?

Drawing on six years of research across a dozen countries, The Rare Metals War shows that the digital revolution has a hidden dark side. By breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence on rare metals such as cobalt, gold, and palladium.

They are essential to electric vehicles, fighter jets, wind turbines, and solar panels, and also to our smartphones, computers, tablets, and other everyday connected objects. China has captured the lion's share of the rare metals industry, but consumers know very little about how they are mined and traded, or the environmental, economic, and geopolitical costs.

The Rare Metals War is a vital exposé of the ticking time-bomb that lies beneath our new technological order.

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