Fab City Circular Talks: Lithium Rising - The Race for Critical Minerals

• Movie, Cinema, TV

The documentary Lithium Rising: The Race for Critical Minerals by Samuel George (Bertelsmann Foundation) explores the global challenges and opportunities related to the extraction and use of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. The film takes viewers to locations across five continents – from lithium salt flats in South America and cobalt mines in the Congo to recycling plants in Georgia (USA) – and examines the social, environmental, and geopolitical impacts of the global energy transition.

RELEVANCE FOR HAMBURG

Since 2019, Hamburg has been part of the global Fab City network, aiming to build a largely locally organized, circular urban economy by 2054. The goal is to increasingly produce, repair, and recycle products locally, with only data being exchanged globally.

Lithium Rising addresses key issues that are highly relevant to Hamburg’s transformation into a Fab City:

Resource dependence and supply chains: The film highlights the global dependencies in sourcing critical raw materials and underscores the importance of developing local and resilient value chains – a core objective of Fab City Hamburg.

Recycling and circular economy: It showcases innovative recycling approaches and emphasizes the importance of closed-loop material cycles, directly aligning with Fab City Hamburg’s goals.

Social and environmental responsibility: By depicting the impacts of raw material extraction on local communities, the documentary raises awareness of the social and ecological challenges of the energy transition – critical considerations in developing sustainable local production systems.

SPEAKERS

Following the screening, an interdisciplinary panel will discuss critical raw materials, the circular economy, and the global implications of the energy transition:

- Samuel George, PhD, Director of Documentaries at the Bertelsmann Foundation

- Tannaz Naseri, Postdoctoral researcher at TU Hamburg (CREM), expert in sustainable battery recycling

- Murat Bayram, Managing Director at EMR European Metal Recycling, expert in metal recycling and circular value creation

Where research meets practice:

While Dr. Naseri researches innovative recycling processes for lithium-ion batteries, Murat Bayram brings insights from the recycling industry and its practical implementation.

Discussion language: English