Thousands of species threatened by mining for minerals needed in clean energy, say University of Cambridge researchers

The demand for raw materials needed for the transition to clean energy poses a major risk to thousands of species of vertebrates, University of Cambridge researchers have found.

They led the most complete global assessment ever undertaken of the threat to biodiversity from mineral extraction.

It identified 4,642 species of vertebrate threatened by mineral extraction around the world through mining and quarrying, and by drilling for oil and gas.

And the biggest risk to species comes from mining for materials we need for clean energy, such as lithium and cobalt, which are essential components of solar panels, wind turbines and electric cars.

They also showed how quarrying for limestone - required in huge amounts for the cement used in construction - also puts many species at risk.

“We simply won’t be able to deliver the clean energy we need to reduce our climate impact without mining for the materials we need, and that creates a problem because we’re mining in locations that often have very high levels of biodiversity,” said Prof David Edwards in Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences and Conservation Research Institute, senior author of a report published in Current Biology.

“So many species, particularly fish, are being put at risk through the pollution caused by mining. It would be an easy win to work on reducing this freshwater pollution so we can still get the products we need for the clean energy transition, but in a way that isn’t causing so much biodiversity loss.”

While many mines are found in the world’s most valuable biodiversity hotspots, the threat is not limited to species at their physical locations.

Instead, species living at great distances away can also be impacted due, for example, to polluted watercourses or deforestation caused by new access roads and infrastructure.

Fish were most at risk from mining - with 2,053 threatened - followed by reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.

The habitat and lifestyle of a species determine how at risk it is - with freshwater species and those with small ranges most under threat.

“The need for limestone as a core component of construction activity also poses a real risk to wildlife,” said Ieuan Lamb, in the University of Sheffield’s School of Biosciences, first author of the report. “Lots of species are very restricted in where they live because they're specialised to live on limestone. A cement mine can literally take out an entire hillside - and with it these species’ homes.”

Limestone quarrying in Malaysia, for example, threatens the bent-toed gecko, which only exists on a single mountain range that planned mining activity will completely destroy.

The researchers used International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) data and mapped the locations of vertebrate species to see which were threatened by mining, investigate the types of mining endangering them and see where the risks are particularly high.

Species categorised as ‘vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered’ were found to be more threatened by mineral extraction than species of lesser concern.

Mineral extraction was found to threaten vertebrate species populations across the tropics, with hotspots in the Andes, coastal West and Central Africa, and South-East Asia, as these areas have a high density of mines.

Artisanal small-scale alluvial gold mining in Ghana, for example, put important bird areas at risk through environmental mercury pollution.

Mining has multiple impacts on watercourses, with water pollution affecting hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of rivers and floodplains.

By mining sand for a construction material, for example, we alter patterns of water flow in rivers and wetlands, which makes birds like the Indian Skimmer more accessible to predators.

“There's no question that we are going to continue to mine - our entire societies are based on mined products. But there are environmental tensions embodied in our use of these products. Our report is a vital first step in avoiding biodiversity loss amidst the predicted drastic expansion of the mining industry,” said Prof Edwards.

In 2022, the revenue of the mining industry was estimated to be $943billion, as global demand for metal minerals, fossil fuels and construction materials grows dramatically.

“Wildlife is more sensitive to mining in some regions of the world than in others, and our report can inform choices of where to prioritise getting our minerals to cause the least damage to biodiversity,” added Ieuan.

“Future policy should also focus on creating more circular economies - increasing recycling and reuse of materials, rather than just extracting more.”

The study, funded by the Hossein Farmy scholarship, focused only on vertebrate species, but the researchers say mining is also likely to be a substantial risk to plants and invertebrates.