IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v25y2021i4p1034-1050.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental impacts of the future supply of rare earths for magnet applications

Author

Listed:
  • Sabine Langkau
  • Martin Erdmann

Abstract

The environmental impacts of rare earth mining have recently caused public concern, because demand for the rare earth elements neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (pr), dysprosium (Dy), and terbium (Tb) is expected to increase strongly as a result of their use in magnets for electric cars and other emerging applications. Therefore, we analyzed the future environmental impacts of producing these rare earth metals per kilogram and for global production in the year 2035 to obtain insights into their relevance and draw conclusions about suitable mitigation measures. We introduced a new stepwise approach that combines future scenarios of metal demand, policy measures, mining sites, and environmental conditions with life cycle assessment data sets. The environmental impacts of 1kg of Nd, Pr, Dy, and Tb will probably decrease by 2035. In contrast, the environmental impacts of the global production of these metals for magnet applications might increase or decrease depending on the development of demand and the environmental conditions of mining and production. Regarding mitigation measures, the attempts included in the Chinese consolidation strategy (improvement of the environmental conditions of mining, prevention of illegal mining) are the most promising to reduce impacts in the categories human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity and, in the case of Nd/Pr, also in eutrophication and acidification. For the remaining categories, reducing the increase in demand (e.g., by improving material efficiency) is the most promising measure. Enhancing the environmental performance of foreground processes has larger potential benefits than improving background processes for most impact categories, including human toxicity as the most relevant impact category following normalization. This article met the requirements for a gold‐gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabine Langkau & Martin Erdmann, 2021. "Environmental impacts of the future supply of rare earths for magnet applications," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(4), pages 1034-1050, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:25:y:2021:i:4:p:1034-1050
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13090
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13090
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jiec.13090?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bodenheimer, Miriam, 2014. "Certifying improvement, improving certification: An analysis based on the artisanal and small-scale mining sector," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S9/2014, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    2. Han, Aiping & Ge, Jianping & Lei, Yalin, 2015. "An adjustment in regulation policies and its effects on market supply: Game analysis for China’s rare earths," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P2), pages 30-42.
    3. Jason C.K. Lee & Zongguo Wen, 2017. "Rare Earths from Mines to Metals: Comparing Environmental Impacts from China's Main Production Pathways," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(5), pages 1277-1290, October.
    4. Jeroen B. Guinée & Reinout Heijungs, 2011. "Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(5), pages 656-658, October.
    5. Klossek, Polina & Kullik, Jakob & van den Boogaart, Karl Gerald, 2016. "A systemic approach to the problems of the rare earth market," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 131-140.
    6. Machacek, Erika & Fold, Niels, 2014. "Alternative value chains for rare earths: The Anglo-deposit developers," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 53-64.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Yizhou & Wang, Yibo & Ge, Jianping, 2023. "Tracing the material flows of dysprosium in China from 2010 to 2020: An investigation of the partition characteristics of different rare earth mining areas," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yufeng Chen & Biao Zheng, 2019. "What Happens after the Rare Earth Crisis: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Riesgo García, María Victoria & Krzemień, Alicja & Manzanedo del Campo, Miguel Ángel & Menéndez Álvarez, Mario & Gent, Malcolm Richard, 2017. "Rare earth elements mining investment: It is not all about China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 66-76.
    3. Behnaz Minooei Fard & Willi Semmler & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo, 2023. "Rare Earth Elements: A game between China and the rest of the world," Working Papers in Public Economics 235, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    4. Park, Sulgiye & Tracy, Cameron L. & Ewing, Rodney C., 2023. "Reimagining US rare earth production: Domestic failures and the decline of US rare earth production dominance – Lessons learned and recommendations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    5. Thomas Beaussier & Sylvain Caurla & Véronique Bellon Maurel & Eléonore Loiseau, 2019. "Coupling economic models and environmental assessment methods to support regional policies : A critical review," Post-Print hal-02021423, HAL.
    6. Nikolay Yurevich Samsonov, 2018. "Global Chains of Supply of Rare-Earth and Rare Metals as High-Tech Raw Materials Within the Framework of International Industrial Cooperation," Spatial Economics=Prostranstvennaya Ekonomika, Economic Research Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Khabarovsk, Russia), issue 3, pages 43-66.
    7. Ge, Jianping & Lei, Yalin, 2018. "Resource tax on rare earths in China: Policy evolution and market responses," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 291-297.
    8. Chen, Yufeng & Zheng, Biao & Qu, Fang, 2020. "Modeling the nexus of crude oil, new energy and rare earth in China: An asymmetric VAR-BEKK (DCC)-GARCH approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Shuai, Jing & Peng, Xinjie & Zhao, Yujia & Wang, Yilan & Xu, Wei & Cheng, Jinhua & Lu, Yang & Wang, Jingjin, 2022. "A dynamic evaluation on the international competitiveness of China's rare earth products: An industrial chain and tech-innovation perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Xia, Qifan & Du, Debin & Cao, Wanpeng & Li, Xiya, 2023. "Who is the core? Reveal the heterogeneity of global rare earth trade structure from the perspective of industrial chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Peter Horton & Steve A. Banwart & Dan Brockington & Garrett W. Brown & Richard Bruce & Duncan Cameron & Michelle Holdsworth & S. C. Lenny Koh & Jurriaan Ton & Peter Jackson, 2017. "An agenda for integrated system-wide interdisciplinary agri-food research," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(2), pages 195-210, April.
    12. Erling Holden & Geoffrey Gilpin, 2013. "Biofuels and Sustainable Transport: A Conceptual Discussion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(7), pages 1-21, July.
    13. Riba, Jordi-Roger & López-Torres, Carlos & Romeral, Luís & Garcia, Antoni, 2016. "Rare-earth-free propulsion motors for electric vehicles: A technology review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 367-379.
    14. Hau, Liya & Zhu, Huiming & Yu, Yang & Yu, Dongwei, 2022. "Time-frequency coherence and quantile causality between trade policy uncertainty and rare earth prices: Evidence from China and the US," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Hilson, Gavin & Hilson, Abigail & Maconachie, Roy, 2018. "Opportunity or necessity? Conceptualizing entrepreneurship at African small-scale mines," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 286-302.
    16. Hou, Wenyu & Liu, Huifang & Wang, Hui & Wu, Fengyang, 2018. "Structure and patterns of the international rare earths trade: A complex network analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 133-142.
    17. Mancheri, Nabeel A., 2015. "World trade in rare earths, Chinese export restrictions, and implications," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P2), pages 262-271.
    18. Zhang, Zhimin & Elshkaki, Ayman, 2022. "An analysis of the supply-side factors of geological exploration in China based on provincial panel data between 1999 and 2017," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    19. A. Cristina Ribeiro-Duthie & Líllian M.B. Domingos & Marina F. Oliveira & Patrícia C. Araujo & Renata C.J. Alamino & Ricardo S.V. Silva & James M. Ribeiro-Duthie & Zuleica C. Castilhos, 2017. "Sustainable development opportunities within corporate social responsibility practices from LSM to ASM in the gold mining industry," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 30(2), pages 141-152, July.
    20. Han, Aiping & Ge, Jianping & Lei, Yalin, 2016. "Vertical vs. horizontal integration: Game analysis for the rare earth industrial integration in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 149-159.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:25:y:2021:i:4:p:1034-1050. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.