The debate on lithium didn’t take a summer break! After several spring events across Europe, the series continued into the summer with the same format: screening of Europe’s Lithium Paradox followed by expert panel discussions. Each session focused on different angles — social, industrial, economic, and/or environmental. Here are the summer events’ highlights:
1. Jequitinhonha, Brazil
The Brazilian version of “Europe’s Lithium Paradox” was launched on the 9th of July 2025 at the Lithium Business conference in JEQUITINHONHA, Brazil. The debate addressed the potential of Brazil and the EU working together in a better way, and how the way forward would be.
2. Berlin, Germany
For this event on the 10th of July 2025, a carefully selected group of 30 representatives of German politics, industry, and civil society were invited, including the Green MP, Sandra Detzer in the debate panel. The key message was “To make haste slowly”:
To Make Haste…
Europe must act fast to keep the climate transition on track. That means more local mining, recycling, and responsible sourcing — plus a bold “Make-in-Europe, buy-in-Europe” strategy. Without it, the EU risks losing to China, sliding into dependency, and fuelling social unrest.
…Slowly
But speed alone isn’t enough. The transition must respect local communities and involve them as partners, not bystanders. With Responsible Mining 2.0, communities share in the benefits, ensuring the green shift is both fast and fair.
3. Freiberg, Germany
On 27th August 2025, the LITHOS co-funded documentary was shown in the context of the recomine Remining2025 conference on the reprocessing of legacy tailings. The film showing was followed by an in-depth panel discussion with a very diverse panel, covering the environmental and indigenous perspectives to mining projects, spoke about how the Saxon administration deals with transparent permitting procedures and the Zinnwald Lithium GmbH project in East Germany. On the following day of this conference, LITHOS Strategic Manager gave a lecture “To (re)mine or not to (re)mine in Europe, that is the question”. Main takeaway: “Trust & Responsible Mining v2.0” – Building trust is key to Europe’s resilience in mining, processing, and recycling lithium. Without it, Europe stays dangerously dependent on autocratic countries for critical minerals. Trust can only grow through co-created responsible mining models, where communities and environmental groups are true partners and beneficiaries.
4. Tallinn, Estonia
In conjunction with the Social License to Operate Conference “Responsible Mineral Exploration”, held on 16 September 2025 in Tallinn and organised by the Geological Surveys of Estonia, Finland, Denmark and Greenland, a dedicated session featured the screening of Europe’s Lithium Paradox, followed by a moderated discussion.
Stay tuned for the upcoming events!
