Congratulations to CIES Head of Research, Joëlle Noailly for obtaining an SNF grant for a four-year project on 'Critical Minerals and the Clean Energy Transition', which will run from September 2023.

A major obstacle to the energy transition often overlooked is the critical reliance of future energy systems on a few essential minerals, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt or rare earths elements, vital to the production of batteries, wind turbines and solar cells. Joëlle Noailly, Steven Poelhekke and
Gerard van der Meijden will examine policy solutions to mitigate disruptions in the supply of critical minerals via an exploration of the geopolitical and environmental challenges posed by the mining and extraction of critical minerals.

The project, which will be based at the Center for International Environmental Studies, is a collaboration with VU Amsterdam and includes academic and policy partners from the University of Geneva, the Colorado School of Mines, the World Bank and WIPO.

*** The Swiss National Science Foundation salary rates are available here. ***