Hello and welcome to the Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that’s like a flight on a budget airline - kinda exciting, kinda terrifying but it’s definitely what you paid for.

Today we’re digging deeper in to the localisation of EV supply chains in the UK. Let’s get in to it.

Cornish Decarbonisation

Beaches, pasties, lithium - all things Cornwall’s famous for, or at least will be if these folks have anything to do with it…

Cornish Lithium, a British mineral exploration start-up and Imerys British Lithium are pushing forward with plans to help establish Cornwall, UK as a lithium sourcing hub.

Historically, the majority of lithium has come from Australia, Chile, and China. By developing a domestic source, these firms hope that the UK can improve its supply chain and even venture in to supplying European manufacturers.

Both projects have identified multiple locations where they believe there is sufficient source of lithium to process. Between the two entities, they’re hoping to source up to 30,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Sounds like a lot but global demand is expected to hit 3.7m tonnes by 2030.

Talk about a drop in an ever-rising ocean.

Leaning in to Lithium

The reality is that even in a best case scenario, lithium deposits in Cornwall will not produce anywhere near other sources around the world but there are a number of advantages with the proposed set up.

Cornwall already has historical infrastructure and expertise through its mining heritage including strong rail links as well as decommissioned processing plants that can be cost-effectively spun back up. On top of this, building domestic capacity improves resilience in case of future supply-chain shocks.

The two projects have received $10m of government funding each but this pales in comparison to the incentives available in the U.S. and across Europe. Perhaps some early successes can justify additional government support. We’re looking at you Number 10…

‘Til next time.

The Strawman

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