科技科学

Bundle water safeguards into critical-mineral licences

Nature作者：Junpeng Guo2026年10月20日查看原文 ↗
  • CORRESPONDENCE

By

  1. Junpeng Guo

    1. Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China.

  2. Xingtao Xu

    1. Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, China.

Licences that widen access to technologies for the processing of critical minerals should also safeguard water (see R. Arezki and G. Rota-Graziosi Nature 655, 302–305; 2026). Without such provisions, the proposed pooling of processing-related patents could spread technological benefits but leave water risks concentrated in producing regions. An analysis of 32 geological resources indicates that mining them to meet future demand will require considerably more water, intensifying existing regional constraints (K. Islam et al. Science 387, 1214–1218; 2025).

Nature 658, 1094 (2026)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-03353-z

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

  • Water resources
  • Sustainability
  • Policy

  • Climate change and geopolitics threaten water supplies — but disaster is not inevitable

    World View

  • Preserving water under megacities is crucial — and urgent

    Correspondence

  • Cities are embracing nature for flood defence

    Outlook

  • ‘Incredible’: bleached corals thrive within days when touching healthy neighbour

    News

  • Decentralized AI needs more evidence on energy use

    Correspondence

  • When microbes degrade plastic, where does it go?

    Correspondence

  • To heal sick cities, scientists and residents must work together

    Career Q&A

  • How a new wave of science philanthropists can have the greatest impact

    Editorial

  • Europe and the rest of the world must come up with an answer to US science strategy

    Correspondence