The US Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently unveiled the country’s first blueprint for decarbonizing transportation by 2050. This plan, which is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between the Departments of Transportation, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency, aims to reduce the US’s dependence on fossil fuels in transportation. The blueprint is largely based on two factors: the development of new technologies and the Biden administration’s goal of having 50% of new vehicles sold in 2030 to be electric.
The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) has been widely touted as the key to reducing transportation emissions. However, relying on consumers’ purchasing choices may not be the quickest solution to decarbonizing transportation, given the US’s high number of vehicles per capita and carbon-intensive transportation habits. Thea Riofrancos, a political science professor and member of the Climate + Community Project, argues that it is faster to decarbonize by getting people out of cars as their primary mode of transportation and electrifying the mass-transportation system.
A recent report by the Climate + Community Project, “Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining,” highlights the extractive costs of electrification, specifically the production of lithium-ion batteries for EVs. The report comes at a time when the Biden administration is supporting lithium-mining projects in Nevada to meet the growing demand from US automakers. According to the International Energy Agency, demand for lithium is expected to surpass global production by 2030. The Energy Department has described lithium extraction as a national priority and is pushing for more domestic mining to meet the need.
The proposed Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada, which was permitted by the Trump administration in 2019, is expected to supply one-fifth of projected global demand. However, the report notes that the extraction of lithium has significant environmental impacts, including water pollution and land degradation. The Biden administration’s plan for the future of passenger cars, therefore, faces significant challenges, including the trade-off between reducing transportation emissions and the extractive costs of electrification.
