The lithium, cobalt, and nickel needed to build EV batteries are extracted through environmentally devastating mining operations that poison water, destroy ecosystems, and harm Indigenous and local communities — particularly in the Global South.
Mining for battery materials does carry genuine environmental and social costs. Lithium brine extraction in South America's salt flats consumes significant fresh water in arid regions. Some cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been associated with serious human rights concerns. These are legitimate issues that deserve scrutiny, advocacy, and regulatory attention. The EV industry, to its credit, has been subject to far more public pressure on its supply chains than the oil and gas sector ever was.
What the mining concern rarely includes, however, is a proportionate comparison. The oil and gas industry emits an estimated 34 billion tonnes of CO₂-equivalent globally every year. Lithium mining accounts for roughly 1.3 million tonnes annually — approximately 0.004% of that total. Cobalt mining is in a similar range. The environmental footprint of fossil fuel extraction, including drilling, pipelines, spills, flaring, and refining, dwarfs that of battery mineral mining by orders of magnitude.
The industry is also changing rapidly. Many automakers — including Tesla, Ford, and GM — have shifted toward lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry, which contains no cobalt at all. New extraction techniques such as direct lithium extraction promise to dramatically reduce water consumption compared to traditional evaporation ponds. Canada's own significant lithium and nickel deposits, subject to some of the world's most rigorous environmental and Indigenous consultation requirements, offer the potential for a higher-standard North American supply chain.