Globally expanding lithium mining could threaten endemic species in biodiversity hotspots

Shyam Subramaniam Sharma, Charlotte S. Miller, William D Pearse, Guy Woodward, Gregory Offer, Jacqueline S. Edge

Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely framed as a technological solution to the climate crisis. However, the mineral extraction supplying EV battery production can cause serious environmental damage, threatening ecosystems and biodiversity from local to global scales. Lithium, a key EV battery component, is experiencing an enormous mining boom, which could drive species population declines and eventual extinctions. In this work, we developed and tested an enhanced method for assessing the extent to which 400 operational and prospective lithium mines, located across 41 countries, could threaten Red List species with global extinction. Our results indicate that mines occurring within biodiversity hotspots could pose the greatest species extinction risks. More specifically, we identify degree of local species endemism as a key determinant of the threats posed by lithium mines, acknowledging the shortcomings of both the Red List and biodiversity hotspot assessments in comprehensively capturing these threats. At the regional level, our findings indicate priority attention should be given to ecosystems near lithium mines in southwest Australia, Chile and Argentina’s portions of the Lithium Triangle, southeast China, and the western United States to prevent species extinctions. The species facing the greatest risks in these regions are predominantly plants, reptiles, and freshwater invertebrates.