Copper Barons Are Blocking Clean Energy’s Switch
Securing the metal that will get us to net zero requires economies of scale.
A family affair.
Photographer: Oliver Bunic/Bloomberg
The road to net zero has never been smooth. Especially not when a vital element for decarbonizing the global economy is being hoarded by a group of little-known mining barons.
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange rose to $11,104.50 a metric ton, their highest level on record, on Monday. Traders are betting the world isn’t producing enough of the conductive metal, which will be vital to link all the wind turbines, motors, cables, and electronic devices needed as the world switches to clean energy. Smelters and refiners produced about 27 million tons last year. An additional 12.8 million tons will need to be supplied in 2030 to keep us on a net-zero path, BloombergNEF wrote this week.