EDITORIAL: Waging a war for EV materials security

Conflict over natural resources and human history are inseparable. Wars waged directly or indirectly over control of commodities, trade routes, water, food sources and arable soil have been the root cause of much of the death and misery on planet Earth.

As a student in the 1970s, the politics of petroleum loomed large for me. The OPEC cartel dominated global oil production, fixed prices, and caused gas lines and brownouts via embargos. It was an era when the term “gas guzzler” defined a hefty chunk of the North American car parc. As time went on, dependence on imported oil was a foregone conclusion and an oil war seemed inevitable. That security threat became real in summer 1990, of course, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.