Mine metals but don't harm the planet? Here's a copper-bottomed plan

It is the key ingredient of bronze, the alloy that helped create some of the world's greatest civilisations and took humanity out of the Stone Age on its way to modern times.

- Robin McKie

For good measure, the metal is invaluable for electrical wiring, plumbing and industrial machinery. We owe a lot to copper.

But the metal now faces an uncertain future as manufacturers prepare to expand its use to make the electric cars, renewable power plants and other devices that will help the planet move towards net zero. Unrestricted extraction could cause widespread ecological devastation, scientists have warned.

The issue is to be the prime focus for the new Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials based at Imperial College London in partnership with several international university groups. A total of $150m has been set aside for its first 10 years of operations.

"The world needs to electrify its energy systems, and success will absolutely depend on copper," materials scientist and Imperial vice-provost Professor Mary Ryan, one of the centre's founders, told the Observer last week. "The metal is going to be the biggest bottleneck in this process. So, in setting up the centre, we decided copper would be the first challenge that we dealt with though we will turn our attention to other materials in future."