More than 100 projects to mine for the metal powering the green-energy transition have been proposed in the U.S. alone.

By Johanna Hansel, Carla Samon Ros, Wyatt Myskow

There’s a global rush for new sources of lithium to power the green-energy transition, including a major push for mining the critical metal in the U.S. Columbia Journalism Investigations and Inside Climate News teamed up to track this development trend. Here’s how we collected and analyzed data on new lithium projects—and examined which communities may be most affected by them.

How We Tracked the Lithium Rush

Go behind the scenes with senior editor Michael Kodas, ICN reporter Wyatt Myskow and Columbia Journalism Investigations reporter Johanna Hansel as they discuss the complicated push to build up lithium mining in the United States.

By Wyatt Myskow

Today, just one lithium mine operates in the U.S. By 2030, at least six new projects are expected on American soil, with 13 more close behind, mostly in the dry Southwest.

Mining the Metal of the Future

Experts at a U.N. institute see opportunities for ecological improvement in the peace talks between Kurdish fighters and Turkey.

By Jaylan Sims

On a sweltering July day, 30 Kurdistan Workers’ Party fighters stripped the rifles from their backs and tossed them into a blazing fire.

War Harms the Environment. Can a Peace Treaty Repair the Damage?