The Minerals in Our Explorer

The Climate Mineral Explorer contains a growing list of minerals to explore. Currently two minerals are included: Lithium and Graphite.

Click on one of the minerals to find out more

Graphite is used in a variety of applications, including writing materials, lubricants, paint, refractory, nuclear reactors, graphene sheets and crucially lithium-ion batteries. But graphite’s production and transportation have carbon footprints that need to be understood and mitigated as far as possible to ensure that the mineral has a continued contribution to a low-carbon future.

Graphite, is produced either from natural sources or synthetically and can be found on every continent in the world. Today, China is the world's largest natural graphite producer with a production of 850,000 metric tons. Other countries that produce natural graphite include Madagascar, Mozambique, and Brazil with smaller levels of production in South Korea, Russia, Canada, Norway, and India.

Across the natural graphite supply chain, opportunities exist to further reduce energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This increases the decarbonization impact of deploying graphite products at scale for a truly clean energy transition.

This dashboard explores the GHG and energy footprints of natural graphite supply chains and enables users to map sustainable opportunities for decarbonization.

The Climate-Smart Mining Initiative has developed this platform within the context of the World Bank Climate Action Plan 2021 – 2025 pledging support to decarbonize the transport sector and accelerate the clean energy transition.