Lofted dust layers over the Andes mountains
Lofted dust layers, seen here over the Andes mountains, can eat away at ozone, according to a new study. Credit: Samuel Hall/NCAR

The renewable energy sector is booming, and as demand for clean energy rises, so too does demand for the metals it relies on—copper and nickel chief among them. As the world continues scaling up renewables to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, demand will almost certainly top supply in the coming decades. To address this future gap, an international group of researchers and the mining giant BHP teamed up to identify the processes that determine whether or not these metals make it into accessible deposits in the crust.

—Kate Wheeling (@katewheeling), Science Writer

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