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New Energy World™
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Circular supply chains for critical minerals in energy technologies
4/12/2024
10 min read
Feature
Creating a circular economy would redirect critically rare materials (CRMs) from waste back into energy transition technologies. It would alleviate the pressure on CRM supply chains and scale down the environmental and social repercussions of mining them in the first place, reports Charlie Bush.
The Energy Transitions Commission predicted last year that global electricity supply will almost quadruple by 2050. At that point, nearly 70% of electricity will be generated by wind and solar PV, contends the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its Net Zero by 2050 report. As clean energy technologies contain CRMs, securing a reliable supply of minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel is vital. No wonder that the IEA found that in 2023, lithium demand grew by 30%, and demand for nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements increased between 8% and 15%.
The struggle to ensure a reliable flow of CRMs is compounded by constricted, complicated and volatile supply chains, as Deloitte has pointed out. Just seven countries control around three-quarters of the world’s cobalt, lithium and rare earths output. Reducing demand for CRMs would improve energy security and diminish geopolitical risks. Moreover, mineral extraction involves environmental, social and governance problems, including high carbon emissions, land degradation, biodiversity loss, water stress, and safety and human rights issues.
Despite this, the world wastes increasingly vast amounts of CRMs. The UK is anticipated to produce 235,000 tonnes of battery material waste from electric vehicles (EVs) by 2040, eight times more than in 2030, according to the UK Advanced Propulsion Centre. Meanwhile, China is expected to accumulate between 200,000–1.5mn tonnes in PV panel waste by 2030.