Opinion: To reach net zero the world still needs mining

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Bridget Storrie (UCL Institute for Global Prosperity) explores the contradictions around how society views mining, as both necessary to produce raw materials but at the same time undesirable because of its environmental and perceived social harms. On the wooded hill above the Stan Terg lead and zinc mine in Kosovo, there is an old concrete diving platform looming over what was once an open-air swimming pool. Before the break-up of Yugoslavia, people who worked at the mine would bring their families here to swim, sunbathe on the wide terrace with its view across the valley, and picnic among the trees. Now the pool is slowly disappearing into the forest, the view obscured by birch saplings. I am with Peter*, an Albanian mine worker who used to come up here with his friends before the war began in 1998. Back then, Serbs and Albanians would use the pool and nearby tennis courts together, but there are no Serb mining families here now. Two decades on, the ruination in the landscape still seems unsettling - a reminder for Peter that something valuable has been lost.