Towards a More Sustainable Use of Scarce Metals: A Review of Intervention Options along the Metals Life Cycle

• Published in: Gaia (Heidelberg, Germany) Vol. 21; no. 4; p. 300
• Main Authors: Wäger, Patrick A, Lang, Daniel J, Wittmer, Dominic, Bleischwitz, Raimund, Hagelüken, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Munich Oekom - Gesellschaft fuer Oekologische Kommunikation mbH 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Alternatives; Efficiency; Intervention; Light emitting diodes; Metals; Natural resource management; Natural resources; Raw materials; Society; Studies; Sustainable development; Working groups
• ISSN: 0940-5550; 2625-5413
• DOI: 10.14512/gaia.21.4.15

In the past few decades, geochemically scarce metals have become increasingly relevant for emerging technologies in domains such as energy supply and storage, information and communication, lighting or transportation, which are regarded as cornerstones in the transition towards a sustainable post-fossil society. Accordingly, the supply risks of scarce metals and possible interventions towards their more sustainable use have been subject to an intense debate in recent studies. In this article, we integrate proposed intervention options into a generic life cycle framework, taking into account issues related to knowledge provision and to the institutional setting. As a result, we obtain a landscape of intervention fields that will have to be further specified to more specific intervention profiles for scarce metals or metals families. The envisioned profiles are expected to have the potential to reduce action contingency and to contribute to meeting the sustainability claims often associated with emerging technologies. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]