New Books Network The Green Transition and the Politics of Lithium Extraction
Apr 10, 2026
Thea Riofrancos, Associate Professor of Political Science and expert on climate politics and resource extraction. She discusses why lithium is vital for decarbonization and the geopolitical maps of where it is produced. She explores social and environmental harms in places like Chile, European onshoring conflicts, and how communities organize resistance. Conversations end with governance fixes and demand-reduction strategies.
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Lithium Enables Transport And Renewable Grid Storage
- Lithium batteries are central to decarbonizing transport and variable renewable energy by enabling mobile and large-scale energy storage.
- Thea Riofrancos explains lithium's role in electric vehicles, buses, and huge stationary battery complexes that balance supply and demand on renewable grids.
Brine Evaporation Mining Still Harms Water Systems
- Lithium extraction is environmentally impactful even when it uses brine evaporation rather than open-pit rock mining.
- In Chile the salar brine is pumped into evaporation ponds, which concentrates lithium but alters hydrology and harms local ecosystems and communities.
Lithium Extraction Follows Historical Extractivist Patterns
- Current lithium extraction layers onto long histories of extractive industries and political arrangements, reproducing past injustices.
- In Chile SQM and Albemarle's trajectories reflect privatizations and ties to the Pinochet era shaping today's sectoral power.
