LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR

Energy ADVISOR

A daily publication Of the dialogue

January 20, 2023

Can Latin America Find Better Ways to Develop its Lithium?

Lithium’s demand is growing, though its extraction is controversial. Close to two-thirds of the world’s lithium reserves are located in the “lithium triangle” of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. A lithium project in Argentina is pictured. // File Photo: Argentine Government.

Q

A

Javiera Barandiaran, associate professor and graduate director in the Department of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara: “The climate crisis is a crisis of consumption and economic activity; today’s lifestyles of the wealthy are simply unsustainable. The obstacle facing the lithium industry is this: treating lithium or electric vehicles as strategic commodities to compete over and sell to those who can afford them reproduces the same extractivist and growth-oriented policies that brought about this existential crisis. The ‘lithium triangle’ concept situates these territories within a violent, unequal and center-periphery geopolitics of the past that further erases from our official records memories of a wilder, more biodiverse planet. Lithium mining’s environmental impacts barely register in official records, such as…”

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ABOUT THE Energy ADVISOR

A sister publication of the Inter-American Dialogue’s daily Latin America Advisor, the weekly Energy Advisor captures fresh analysis from business leaders and government officials on the most important developments in oil and gas, biofuels, the power sector, renewables, new technologies, and the policy debates shaping the future of energy in the Western Hemisphere and beyond. To subscribe or for more information, contact Gene Kuleta, editor of the Advisor, at gkuleta@thedialogue.org.

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Staff

Gene Kuleta
Editor
P. 202.463.2920
E. gkuleta@thedialogue.org

Carl David
Goette-Luciak
Reporter

Nili Blanck
Reporter

board of advisors

Nigel Blackaby
Global Head, International Arbitration Group,
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Jimena Blanco
Chief Analyst,
Verisk Maplecroft

María José Cortés
Head of ESG,
Atlas Renewable Energy

Jeffrey Davidow
Senior Counselor,
The Cohen Group

Analia Gonzalez
Leader, Arbitration & Litigation,
Laitn America, BakerHostetler

Jonathan C. Hamilton
Partner,
White & Case

Raul Herrera
Partner, Corporate &
Securities Practice,
Arnold & Porter

James R. Jones
Chairman,
Monarch Global Strategies

Jorge Kamine
Partner, Corporate &
Financial Services,
Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Craig A. Kelly
Senior Director,
Int’l Government Relations,
Exxon Mobil

Jeremy Martin
Director,
Energy Program,
Institute of the Americas

Larry Pascal
Chairman, Americas
Practice Group,
Haynes & Boone

R. Kirk Sherr
President,
Clearview Strategy Group

Daniela Stevens
Director,
Energy Transition and Climate Program,
Inter-American Dialogue

Doris Rodríguez
Partner,
Hunton Andrews Kurth

Alexandra Valderrama
Director,
International Government
Affairs, Chevron

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