surrounding soil drained water supplies and contaminate the air. also, lithium is finite. the study found we could run into serious trouble by mid century . if demand keeps growing like this, then there's cobalt that also goes on to lithium ion batteries. it's a metal mainly found the democratic republic of the congo. it's mining has often been linked to inhumane working conditions and child labor people exposed to it have suffered from lung disease or hot problems. they have all of the energy that is required to make the batteries and especially production of cell require lawful vantage. and this means c o 2 emissions. how much exactly really depends on the electricity mix of the producing country. but according to recent figures, making just a small battery for a car like this could cause more than 4 tons of c o 2. to give you an idea that's like driving a new diesel car bought in the you for about 33000 kilometers. the good news is

that emissions are thinking, as battery production becomes more efficient and we shift towards cleaner energy sources. so the bad news is that the batteries are losing capacity over time. so as there are more and more movies that will also be more and more spent batteries, how do we deal with them? they should be connected and selected, recombined, and we used in different campuses in the applications. this is ada kong. she's worked on a report about this for greenpeace east asia. the battery that can be just a vehicle is essentially a powerful when they're used for like 5 or 8 years that could in reading that meets ha, ha ha. they said you have enough performance for a function. that's right. we can give, spend ca, batteries a 2nd life. for example, that can be turned into energy storage for windows solar. they could also power you next camping trip, and they still have enough juice left to drive a forklift or a boat and discuss it. batteries are already used for all these things today. ah,

wish you a manual. and i stand off that materials by reusing hasta, using up a regional function of products. they could be recycled to as role cios and to produce more products. let's get out the lego to understand how lithium ion batteries get recycled. it often involve smelting so essentially heating them until they melt. but this uses lots and lots of energy, creates toxic emissions and loses some of the materials. and that's why companies are coming up with new ways to recycle. you want to have as much as we can with high value materials that are, have taken a lot of effort to get out of the ground. we want to use those carefully. and as many times as we can, this is cornell fell fha, chief commercial of a side lifecycle. a lithium ion battery recycling company from canada,

which we basically come up with a process designed specifically for this to have high recovery rates of the material. in the 1st stage, what we call her spoke is a mechanical process that breaks down the batteries and separate some of the fundamental materials. very, very simply speaking, this is what happens. the batteries are shredded while being submerged in a non toxic solution. this is important because it prevents them from catching fire and in the worst case, blowing up then materials like plastic, copper and aluminum separated from what the industry called the black mass. this contains the valuable materials, like cobalt, nicole and lithium. the 2nd half part of the process is the hub, and this is really a bespoke hydro, metallurgy or wet chemistry process to process black mass into battery materials. what this means is that different chemicals get added to the black mass, which each al different elements, these chemicals either make their way into the final product or reduced in the

process. so this actually doesn't produce any waste water. you end up with a black mass separated into a single components like lithium, cobalt and nickel. so that the end goal is that as we pull them out of the batteries, we're putting them back into new batteries and that hasn't been, she been achieved yet at a high scale there's, there's elements of it around the world, but we want to help to continue to try that forward, it is hard to keep track exactly how many lithium ion batteries already get recycles, mainly because they're often exported. but it is already happening more and more especially in asia where most of them are also produced. and as volumes of spent batteries grow, it will make even more financial sense to recycle them. this is cindy, i do with

materials that the a indefinitely the lithium ion battery already one of the most of the product is already reused today and told them if they thought recycled, we can optimize. is it better and better? and the more we have on the market, the more of those that will be now the corona buyers condemning has shown how dependent europe is eligible materials from other parts of the world locked downs in asia. and board closures caused massive disruptions in the global supply chain. forcing manufacturers to slow while even hold production. a team of geologist is now working to find raw materials like lithium, rare earth and graphite in northern europe to allow you to be less dependent on others. in particular, china. a team of geologists in no way get to work.

they've been commissioned by a company called north mining to search for critical materials. right here in northern europe. says they need to take samples. lines is really nice, made it here. because you can see like the thickness of them is pretty good for the or we're looking back at the research camp. the team examines hundreds of drills samples every month. we can face some of the mineralization here. the specifically more my think brands that we're looking at, which is where the higher grade mineralization is. obviously, titanium canadian phosphorus that we're looking at because there's extra phosphorus is an essential rule material used in fertilizer. the launch deposits of an 80 am, on the other hand, can be used in huge batteries that store energy within electrical power grids.

both elements are considered critical materials, along with a range of others, such as lithium rats or graphite. but where does the term critical material come from? a question we put to the founder of the mining company critical reality roles. he's a terminology which is basically comes from europe has been invented by the u, because the europeans are dependent on to today as so as to glow, particularly from supply from china. and which is about 606062 percent. china is the number one producer of critical val, materials. in the case of rare earth, china provides more than 80 percent of global supply and process is the largest and mind reserves. lenders, cobalt, lithium, copper, and nichol. here, china has secured strategic supply commitments from other countries to gain

a monopoly. these materials are important for renewable energies which are needed to stop global warming. so right now, achieve in global climate goals depends on chinese raw materials. take lithium mining, like here in california, lithium is used in batteries for electric cars. here to china dominates the market . electric cars, wind and solar energy, all require a huge amount of critical materials. by 2040 lithium consumption is expected to be $42.00 times what it is now. the use of graphite cobalt a nickel rules increase massively. busy while rare earths will be consumed at 7 times, the current rate hover is another critical val. material that is in high demand owing to its use in electric vehicles and generators. china recognize the signs of the times early on. now,

europe is playing catch up. green a digital technologies currently depend on a number of scarce raw materials. we import, lithium for electric cars, platinum to produce clean hydrogen, silicon metal, for solar panels, 98 percent of the rare earth elements we need come from single supplier china. this is why we have proposed to create a european raw materials alliance. oh, the e u has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 60 percent over the next 2 decades. oh, so a europe wide consortium of companies with headquarters in berlin has been charged with the missing the issue of all materials. ah, the european. ready relatives alliance as one mandate, the tests to the mandate,

to protect euro from any kind of supply interaction of raw materials and in particular critical raw materials. and in this context, of course, our oldest 1st and foremost understanding the pattern and the mix of romance units . and here the role is identifying respect of companies that have the willingness and the capability to invest into raw material topics that can help closing the gap that we were just talking about. it will likely take 10 to 35000000000 euros of investment to mind the necessary role materials. so companies like nor to mining that are funding themselves are especially welcome to me. if you'll find a good project you have to invest as attend am. it's, you know, it is very intriguing will be doing. it's very excited because it's not only a minute project such, it has become a geopolitical nat, geo, strategic thing. but it often takes up to 20 years to build in mind,

starting from the initial phase of exploration. north mining says it already has enough funding from investors and hopes to stop mining much sooner for the european union. it can't come soon enough. that's all for this edition of mate. thanks for watching. stay safe with ah ah

ah. with how to eat without feeling guilty about the impact on the planet. according to german food, pioneers is possible. they are creating environmentally friendly alternatives for

popular foods in the kitchen. and the laboratory is this the solution to a growing global population global $3000.00 in 30 minutes on the d, w tax hikes for millionaires. one millionaire is demanding just that her wealth could help others, especially during the pandemic. but that doesn't mean that the rest of the super rich are ready to pay their different views as to who should profit the most from their money. germany's wealthy elite after corona close up 90 minutes on d w. sometimes a seed is well, you need to allow the big ideas to grow. we're bringing environmental conservation to life with learning pass like global ideas. we will show you how climate

change and environmental conservation is taking shape around the world and how we can all make a difference. knowledge grows through sherry, download it now, feel free. imagine being, boy, you are alive. the can't prove it. you want to learn, but no school. you want to be you put on allowed to. when you're sick, the doctor's note. when you fall in love, they won't mind. you don't have children for fear they'll be invisible. your shoe, you have no human right. when you die, there's no, you ever every 10 in person like this is

10000000 people in the world, the state. they have no nationality and a total middle belong and that everyone has the right. everyone has the right to say like ah, ah ah ah, this is g w, news ally from berlin, hong kong ground, just more journalists in each crackdown of the free press. this latest ray targets the offices of online outlet stand, news reporters are arrested in documents all the way. it's the latest blow against

independent.