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Paris Marx is the host of Tech Won’t Save Us and the author of Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation.

For Issue #19 of The Internationalist, Marx argues that the aggressive push towards electric vehicles (EVs) has not been driven by a sudden commitment to sustainable practices — but by the interests of the mining and automotive industries, which are driving record levels of mineral extraction with disastrous environmental impacts in countries like Chile, particularly on its Indigenous communities.

The defeat of Chile’s new constitution in September 2022 was a major blow. But as the country’s left and its international allies devise a new path forward, not everyone is sad to see it fail. Before the vote, The Economist warned that the constitutional process was a “risky distraction,” while the Wall Street Journal called the document a “constitutional suicide pact.” The real concern was not for Chile’s economy or democratic structures but about access to the increasingly valuable minerals within its territory.

The Washington Post’s Editorial Board was explicit about this, warning that the new constitution could jeopardize access to the world’s largest reserves of lithium — a mineral “upon which the United States is basing its electrified automotive future.” Meanwhile, the Financial Post noted that “Canadian miners have had a good run in Chile” in the 25 years since a free-trade agreement was signed between the two countries but that the new constitution and left-wing turn could change that. Mining companies face an unprecedented opportunity to expand their operations in response to a rapidly growing demand for various minerals. The last thing they want is for governments to stifle that market opportunity.

After decades of delay, the escalating impacts of the climate crisis are finally forcing the governments of some of the wealthiest countries in the world to respond. But in their push to minimize deep, structural changes that get to the root of the problem, the electric car has become central to their transition plans to inject new life into their automotive industries. The idea is that by replacing the vehicles many people drive today with battery-powered alternatives, they’ll cut transport emissions without significantly disrupting the automotive system that’s long been a driver of economic activity. Depending on your perspective, that brings some big tradeoffs or opportunities.

A plan that centers on electric vehicles instead of trying to get people out of cars altogether by making significant investments in better public transit and cycling infrastructure, for example, is not only less sustainable but also much more resource-intensive. The International Energy Agency estimates to meet emissions targets with such a high reliance on electric vehicles, that demand is poised to soar by 42 times for lithium by 2040, while cobalt demand will increase by 21 times. In short, that means a lot more mining, which will have significant environmental consequences and human impacts as there’s a rush to expand extraction.

In Chile, that has already meant that 18 indigenous communities living near the salt flats where lithium extraction takes place have a reduced access to fresh water, and the habitats of local animal species have been affected. Cobalt mining has had severe, devastating impacts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s turned the region, where most of the extraction takes place, into one of the most polluted in the world, causing birth defects and other health conditions as up to 40,000 children work in artisanal mines.

For growing anti-extractivist movements around the world, not to mention the communities near these mines, the planned expansion of extraction to meet the demand for electric vehicles is a serious threat that needs to be dealt with. But for mining companies that will supply those minerals, auto companies that could benefit from an accelerated renewal of the vehicle fleet, and politicians who will embrace jobs and growth at any cost, it’s the ideal path forward that also brings the benefit of greenwashing continued unsustainable practices.

The embrace of this vision is also being bound up in growing geopolitical tensions between the West and China as the United States and Europe seek to cement their access to “critical” minerals. To ensure their plans for electric vehicle production aren’t stifled by reliance on China for supplies, they’re not only seeking to expand mining within the Global North after decades of outsourcing but also encouraging allies to step up production. The United States has even added mining requirements to its EV tax credit, so automakers must meet a rapidly escalating threshold for the percentage of battery minerals either mined in North America and its free trade partners, or recycled in North America.

The electric vehicle is undoubtedly an improvement on cars and trucks driven today which are powered by fossil fuels and internal combustion engines. But that doesn’t mean they’re the “zero-emissions” saviours they’re being presented as. As is to be expected, the drawbacks of a rapid transition to EVs are being downplayed so that companies can seize a significant market opportunity and the profits that will come with it, but the threat of the climate crisis also provides a chance to rethink the system that created the problem in the first place.

We can simply electrify unsustainable systems built over decades — as we’re being told to do — including a transport system where tons of metal and minerals are needed to transport humans that weigh a mere couple hundred pounds. Or we can take this moment of transition as one to deal with the other problems that have come from our overreliance on automobiles — the road deaths, time spent stuck in traffic, the health effects of sitting in cars for such long periods, the sprawling communities they require, and more.

Taking on the root of these problems requires a lot more work than just electrifying our cars. It requires governments to step up and take rapid action not just to invest in better alternatives but to rewrite the laws, regulations, and tax incentives that have forced car dependence on far too many people. But a future where more people cycle or take transit than own their car not only presents the possibility of a better quality of life for most people, but it also requires far less extraction than the path we’re on right now.

The Internationalist Archive