The rise of electric vehicles in China is leading to a rush of lithium on the Tibetan plateau, which could cause severe environmental damage and worsen human rights abuses, according to a study published Wednesday.
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China is the world’s largest electric vehicle market but has so far relied largely on other countries for supplies of lithium, the metal used in electric vehicle batteries.
To reduce its imports, Beijing has begun exploiting vast deposits of the metal on the Tibetan Plateau in the country’s southwest, where around 85% of the country’s total lithium reserves are concentrated.
However, according to a report by Turquoise Roof, a network of Tibetan researchers, this “rush for white gold” is causing environmental damage due to “faster, cheaper and more polluting” ore extraction and processing techniques.
The group used satellite data and public sources to map the impact of lithium mining in Tibetan growing areas.
Automakers like Tesla, led by Elon Musk, and its Chinese competitor BYD are “increasingly dependent on lithium mining in Tibet,” the report said.
According to Chinese geological surveys, there are about 3.6 million tons of lithium in deposits in Tibet and the neighboring provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai.
But mining poses the risk of “devastating” pollution in regions rich in biodiversity and particularly vulnerable to climate change, the report said.
Mine operations in Sichuan have killed thousands of fish in a local river and damaged grasslands used for livestock farming.
“Tibetans have no say in this latest rush for wealth,” the report laments.
In a Tibetan autonomous county in Sichuan province, the Chinese battery giant CATL has received the rights to land containing lithium. However, according to the report, residents “were not informed that their pastures were being sold.”
Human rights activists and Western governments have long accused the Chinese Communist Party of serious human rights abuses in Tibet, which Beijing denies.
This report comes as China seeks to bolster its supplies of vital minerals amid trade difficulties with Western exporters.
Beijing imposed restrictions on the export of graphite, used to make batteries for electric vehicles, after the US restricted sales of high-tech chips to China.