Skip to main content
Support

The Lithium Triangle Initiative: South America's Lithium Triangle and the Future of the Green Economy

Date & Time

Thursday
Jan. 23, 2020
9:00am – 1:30pm ET

Location

Inter-American Development Bank

Overview

As the global community pursues sustainable economic development, lithium is playing an increasingly critical role. The metal is used for rechargeable batteries in electric vehicles and for the energy storage needed to expand renewable energy. As a result, global demand for lithium is expected to grow rapidly, and supply will have to keep pace.

Latin America’s Lithium Triangle (Argentina, Bolivia and Chile) and Peru account for more than half of the world’s lithium, and establishing a strong investment climate will be key to boosting the region’s lithium production to help meet global demand and address climate change. For South America, lithium resources are a promising economic engine, but producers will face a variety of challenges, including infrastructure demands, environmental regulation, water management and social concerns.

To support the sustainable development of Latin America’s lithium resources, the Wilson Center’s Latin American Program, in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is launching the Lithium Triangle Initiative (LTI) to collaborate with the private sector and regional governments to help develop best practices for this critical sector.


Registration

Opening Remarks
Marcelino Madrigal
Principal Energy Specialist, Infrastructure and Energy Sector
Inter-American Development Bank

Keynote Remarks
Secretary Alberto Hensel
Secretary of Mining
Argentine Ministry of Energy and Mining

The Green Economy and South America's Lithium Triangle

Ellen Lenny-Pessagno
Country Manager
Albemarle Chile

Martín Pérez de Solay
CEO & Managing Director
Orocobre Limited

Michael Maten
Manager, Energy, Environment, and Electrification Policy
General Motors

Moderator

Lenin H. Balza
Sector Specialist, Extractives
Inter-American Development Bank

11:30 a.m. COFFEE BREAK

A View from Chile:  Developing South America's Lithium Triangle

Javier Coopman
Chief of Staff, Minister Baldo Prokurica
Chilean Ministry of Mining

Roberto Vergara
Chief of Staff, EVP Pablo Terrazas
Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile (CORFO)

Andrea Mohr
Cabinet Advisor, EVP Pablo Terrazas
Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile (CORFO)

The Importance of Citizen/Community Participation in the Green Economy
                                               
All participating speakers will join for this open dialogue.

Moderator

Flavia Milano
Operations Senior Specialist
Inter-American Development Bank

Closing Remarks

Benjamin N. Gedan, PhD
Deputy Director, Latin American Program
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Hosted By

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more

Argentina Project

The Argentina Project is the premier institution for policy-relevant research on politics and economics in Argentina.   Read more

Thank you for your interest in this event. Please send any feedback or questions to our Events staff.