Lithium: Driving Sustainable Development?
Javiera Barandiarán
- Assistant Professor, Global Studies
- University of California, Santa Barbara
New energy markets are creating a new generation of high-value commodities like lithium for batteries. Can developing countries that supply these commodities carve use this opportunity to drive sustainable development? Or will these countries suffer yet another iteration of the resource curse? This talk explores these questions through the history of lithium extraction, markets, and supply chains in Chile and Argentina. This talk is part of a larger series, “Energy and Society: Communities of Energy in Transition.”
Javiera Barandiarán is Assistant Professor in the Global Studies program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an expert on the politics of the environment in Latin America. Her current research examines the history, practices, and political economy of Lithium mining and supply chains in Argentina and Chile.
2:30 - 4:00 p.m.