Faces of capital in green transitions: Examining the actors developing and financing global lithium extraction projects
(2024) MIDM19 20241Department of Human Geography
LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
- Abstract
- Technologies of green transitions, including electric vehicles and advanced battery systems, require vast amounts of lithium. Sites of lithium extraction are expanding rapidly to meet rising demand, with a wide assortment of actors seeking to capitalize on the opportunity. With lithium extraction known to pose various social and environmental threats to surrounding ecologies and communities, the actors involved are assuming a delicate and grave responsibility. Therefore, this study seeks to illuminate the evolving global landscape of lithium extraction, focusing on projects under development and the actors financing, developing and engaging with them. Using S&P Global’s financial analytics platform Capital IQ, the study has traced vast and... (More)
- Technologies of green transitions, including electric vehicles and advanced battery systems, require vast amounts of lithium. Sites of lithium extraction are expanding rapidly to meet rising demand, with a wide assortment of actors seeking to capitalize on the opportunity. With lithium extraction known to pose various social and environmental threats to surrounding ecologies and communities, the actors involved are assuming a delicate and grave responsibility. Therefore, this study seeks to illuminate the evolving global landscape of lithium extraction, focusing on projects under development and the actors financing, developing and engaging with them. Using S&P Global’s financial analytics platform Capital IQ, the study has traced vast and complex networks of investors, developers and customers associated with 23 of the world’s most significant lithium extraction projects under development. It finds that significant projects are underway on every major continent, underpinned primarily by multinational corporations relying on diverse sources of international finance. It also observes regional variances in capital-intensity, ownership structures and investment dynamics. The paper argues that the profit-motive of capitalism is fundamental to these distinctions, compelling the question of whether lithium extraction that is inevitably centered on corporations’ obligation to accumulate capital can be genuinely sustainable. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9170951
- author
- Palmberg, Daniella LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MIDM19 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Lithium, corporations, green transition, natural resource extraction, capitalism, global finance, Capital IQ
- language
- English
- id
- 9170951
- date added to LUP
- 2024-08-01 10:19:02
- date last changed
- 2024-08-01 10:19:02
@misc{9170951,
abstract = {{Technologies of green transitions, including electric vehicles and advanced battery systems, require vast amounts of lithium. Sites of lithium extraction are expanding rapidly to meet rising demand, with a wide assortment of actors seeking to capitalize on the opportunity. With lithium extraction known to pose various social and environmental threats to surrounding ecologies and communities, the actors involved are assuming a delicate and grave responsibility. Therefore, this study seeks to illuminate the evolving global landscape of lithium extraction, focusing on projects under development and the actors financing, developing and engaging with them. Using S&P Global’s financial analytics platform Capital IQ, the study has traced vast and complex networks of investors, developers and customers associated with 23 of the world’s most significant lithium extraction projects under development. It finds that significant projects are underway on every major continent, underpinned primarily by multinational corporations relying on diverse sources of international finance. It also observes regional variances in capital-intensity, ownership structures and investment dynamics. The paper argues that the profit-motive of capitalism is fundamental to these distinctions, compelling the question of whether lithium extraction that is inevitably centered on corporations’ obligation to accumulate capital can be genuinely sustainable.}},
author = {{Palmberg, Daniella}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Faces of capital in green transitions: Examining the actors developing and financing global lithium extraction projects}},
year = {{2024}},
}