China's booming electric vehicle industry is fueling a lithium rush in the Tibetan plateau that risks damaging the troubled region's fragile ecology and deepening rights violations, according to new research.
China is the world's biggest EV market but largely relies on other countries to supply the lithium used in the batteries that power low-carbon vehicles.
That is set to change as Beijing begins to exploit vast deposits on the Tibetan plateau — around 85% of the country's total lithium reserves.
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