The Inconvenient Truth About Reaching Net Zero
Author Ed Conway joins Merryn Talks Money to discuss the six commodities we need to live, and how society must get dirty before it can go green.
The open pit mine at a copper-gold mine in Khanbogd, Mongolia.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergSubscribe to Merryn Talks Money on Apple Podcasts
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There’s a material world people don’t think about all that often. It’s the one that provides the raw metals and chemicals that keep economies and societies moving.
As Ed Conway explains, that’s partly because the mining sector’s increased productivity has meant fewer people work in the industry. Another reason is that developed nations have outsourced their material needs to far away countries (which many are beginning to regret). And finally, the whole industry is hugely disruptive and dirty—also something modern societies tend to avoid if they can.