Deep-sea mining: Japan begins its first tests
Almost 1,900 kilometres south-east of Tokyo, in the vastness of the western Pacific Ocean, lies the uninhabited atoll of Minami-Torishima. Japan’s easternmost outpost, this sliver of land secu...
The Africa of critical minerals seeks a fair energy transition
They are called sacrifice zones: territories where the well-being of people and the environment is put on the back burner in the name of the common good. This often happens in Africa, where many of ...
Telecoupling: A story about lithium and asymmetric global transformations
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano Aapo got up and looked out the window. The Baltic Sea was calm as always at dawn. Many years had p...
Trump's deep sea mining order could destabilize international cooperation
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano As Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), I take note of the Executive Ord...
A Map of the Material World: Interview with Ed Conway
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano The digital revolution, the dematerialisation of work, the web, and social networks may give us th...
What is the ‘empty forest syndrome’ and why it should concern us
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in inglese The loss of wildlife diversity and ecosystem fragmentation have triggered the phenomenon known as t...
Mining is turning the Amazon into a desert
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano Imagine an arid, desolate and barren landscape, this is what the planet Mars looks like. For many ...
Why Trump wants Ukraine’s rare earths
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano "We cannot keep spending hundreds of billions to defend Ukraine without getting something in retur...
Sustainable Mining Practices: A Look at New Innovations
The most pioneering concept in green mining is the development of eco-friendly extraction methods. Traditional mining processes usually use dangerous chemicals and carry out broad-scale environ...
Critical minerals, are volcanoes the mines of the future?
Soufrière Hills is a 1,467-metre volcano that dominates the Caribbean Island of Montserrat in the Lesser Antilles archipelago. Following a series of devastating eruptions between 1995 and 199...