#CILAC2024

Latin-America plays a key role in the energy transition since it has large endowments of the critical minerals which are needed for the energy transition. This fact is regarded as an opportunity to develop and deepen supply chains around these critical minerals, such as downward diversification strategies. However, increasing the extraction and processing of critical minerals also generates environmental pressures. This is because the mining industry has large environmental footprints (CO2 emissions, water consumption, etc.). In this context, new technologies that allow to reduce the mineral intensity use and/or the environmental impacts of the mining industry are urgent, and they could also be a source of comparative advantages in the new low-carbon techno-economic paradigm. In particular, Artificial Intelligence could contribute to raise the efficiency of several processes and, hence, reduce the negative externalities of the critical mineral production. In this sense, this panel seeks to shed light on the implications of green and digital technologies on the economic and environmental competitiveness of the mining sector. Moreover, it will put this discussion in the context of the current debate on green industrial policies, and the related policies for Science, Technology and Innovation.