Talk Series: Resources Across Disciplines - Third Lecture

Deeper Underground: On the Speculative Politics of Critical Mineral Production from Geothermal Resources

Can geothermal energy provide both clean electricity and the critical minerals needed for the energy transition? And what new environmental and political challenges might emerge as a result?

On 10 November, Dr Ethemcan Turhan will explore the growing interest in geothermal energy and its potential to become a new frontier for critical mineral extraction.

Geothermal energy is attracting renewed global attention as a source of continuous, low-carbon electricity that requires relatively little land. Beyond electricity generation, geothermal resources also offer the possibility of extracting critical raw materials, such as lithium, from underground geothermal fluids. These materials are essential for technologies including battery systems and could provide an alternative to conventional mining, potentially reducing some of its environmental and social impacts.

However, these developments also raise questions about the future of energy production and resource extraction. Although promising, the extraction of minerals from geothermal fluids remains technologically challenging, while the expansion of geothermal projects may create new environmental pressures and political tensions.

Drawing on examples from Indonesia and Turkey, Ethemcan will examine how geothermal energy is reshaping the geography of resource extraction and consider the uncertainties, expectations and political interests surrounding these emerging technologies.

About the speaker

Dr. Ethemcan Turhan is Assistant Professor of Environmental Planning at the Department of Spatial Planning and Environment, University of Groningen. His research focuses on political ecology, environmental conflicts, energy infrastructures, social movements and climate mobilities. He is co-editor of Transforming Socio-Natures in Turkey: Landscapes, State and Environmental Movements (Routledge, 2019) and Urban Movements and Climate Change: Loss, Damage and Radical Adaptation (Amsterdam University Press, 2024).

Registration

Interested in joining the discussion? Please register by contacting one of the academic leads of the Conflict, Environment & Society research group, Dr Vanessa Tünsmeyer or Dr Joram Tarusarira.

Registration is required as room capacity is limited.

About the lecture series

This lecture is part of an interdisciplinary series of talks organised by the Conflict, Environment & Society research group of the Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development. The series brings together researchers from different disciplines to explore how resources are understood and valued across environmental, economic, political and cultural contexts.

Previous talks in the series include:

• 15 September 2026: Capturing Regulation, Selling Off the Environment: Regulatory Failure and Infrastructure Violence in the Brazilian Mining Sector - PhD canditate Júlia Dos Anjos Marques.

• 13 October 2026: Collective Mapping as a Methodology for Human Rights in Times of Energy Transition: The Case of Lithium in the Salar de Atacama - PhD canditate Patricio Trincado Vera.

Upcoming lecture:

• 15 December 2026: Sacred Cattle, Sacred Forests: Religion, Climate Adaptation, and Security Risks in Kenya - Dr. Joram Tarusarira.