9:00 AM - 9:25 AM
[T1-01] Decarbonized Society and Essential Metal Resources
「招待講演」
Keywords:Decarbonization, Essential metals, Mining challenges
Measures to curb the rise in global temperature include energy conservation, low-carbon energy (promotion of the use of wind power, solar power generation, geothermal power generation, etc.), and conversion of energy use (electrification, use of hydrogen, etc.).Here, when trying to reduce the carbon value of energy, it became clear that special metals were needed in unusually large quantities. For example, solar power generation requires gallium and cadmium as solar cells, in addition to copper and aluminum. Wind turbines use generators that use permanent magnets composed of rare earth minerals such as neodymium and dysprosium. Geothermal power generation requires titanium for heat-resistant wells, and chromium is also needed for other technologies. Storage batteries are also needed for electric vehicles and wind power generation, but they also require lithium and vanadium. The demand for electric vehicles is expanding rapidly in various countries, and the demand for storage batteries will expand proportionally.According to the World Bank's 2020 report, if we forecast the amount of production required for 2050 compared to the production volume in FY2018, the amount of graphite 494%, lithium 488%, cobalt 460%, indium 231%, vanadium 189%, etc. It has become necessary. This is not the only metal needed. The World Bank lists 17 mineral types. As for the reserves, production, and consumption of these metals, the author considered the priority countries. Many of these resources are found in developing countries.Here, we consider the challenges of securing critical mineral resources.In addition, there are concerns that many of these limited producer countries are politically unstable, environmental pollution associated with mine development is a problem, and social turmoil occurs frequently.JICA is committed to solving the problems of resource-rich developing countries.