South African labor disputes threaten global anti-pollution efforts

Deteriorating labor relations and strikes at mines in South Africa could jeopardize global efforts to reduce vehicle emissions and reduce air pollution, argues Uven Chong, a Millennium Challenge Corporation Science & Technology Fellow. The fellowship program is co-sponsored by Arizona State University, the New America Foundation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

South African mines are a crucial link in the global supply chain for platinum group metals (PGM), which are used in automobiles as catalysts for chemical reactions that convert harmful pollutants in tailpipe emissions into inert compounds. Chong acknowledges that increased recycling efforts could be part of a temporary solution to the turmoil in South Africa, but this threat to the global PGM supply is just one reminder of a larger issue.

“This problem demonstrates the importance of resilience in a manufacturing system,” writes Chong in a Future Tense article for Slate magazine, “...and it’s impossible to count how many other critical systems suffer from this same lack of diversity.” We need to make sure that the raw materials powering the next generation of technology are able to be created synthetically or sourced from a variety of locations. Otherwise the entire expanding world economy will find itself undermined by complex, unpredictable local conflicts.

Future Tense is a collaboration among ASU, the New America Foundation and Slate magazine that explores how emerging technologies affect policy and society.