TY - JOUR

T1 - Towards a More Sustainable Use of Scarce Metals

T2 - A Review of Intervention Options along the Metals Life Cycle

AU - Wäger, Patrick A.

AU - Lang, Daniel J.

AU - Wittmer, Dominic

AU - Bleischwitz, Raimund

AU - Hagelüken, Christian

PY - 2012/12/11

Y1 - 2012/12/11

N2 - In the past few decades, geochemically scarce metals havebecome increasingly relevant for emerging technologies indomains such as energy supply and storage, information andcommunication, lighting or transportation, which are regarded ascornerstones in the transition towards a sustainable post-fossilsociety. Accordingly, the supply risks of scarce metals and possibleinterventions towards their more sustainable use have beensubject to an intense debate in recent studies. In this article, weintegrate proposed intervention options into a generic life cycleframework, taking into account issues related to knowledgeprovision and to the institutional setting. As a result, we obtaina landscape of intervention fields that will have to be furtherspecified to more specific intervention profiles for scarce metalsor metals families. The envisioned profiles are expected to havethe potential to reduce action contingency and to contribute tomeeting the sustainability claims often associated with emergingtechnol ogies.

AB - In the past few decades, geochemically scarce metals havebecome increasingly relevant for emerging technologies indomains such as energy supply and storage, information andcommunication, lighting or transportation, which are regarded ascornerstones in the transition towards a sustainable post-fossilsociety. Accordingly, the supply risks of scarce metals and possibleinterventions towards their more sustainable use have beensubject to an intense debate in recent studies. In this article, weintegrate proposed intervention options into a generic life cycleframework, taking into account issues related to knowledgeprovision and to the institutional setting. As a result, we obtaina landscape of intervention fields that will have to be furtherspecified to more specific intervention profiles for scarce metalsor metals families. The envisioned profiles are expected to havethe potential to reduce action contingency and to contribute tomeeting the sustainability claims often associated with emergingtechnol ogies.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - critical metals

KW - life cycle management

KW - non-renewable resources

KW - recovery

KW - resource efficiency

KW - substitution

KW - Critical metals

KW - Life cycle management

KW - Non-renewable resources

KW - Recovery

KW - Resource efficiency

KW - substitution

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84872111699&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/114d2ee6-5511-3b4c-95be-fc95fa65eee4/

U2 - 10.14512/gaia.21.4.15

DO - 10.14512/gaia.21.4.15

M3 - Scientific review articles

VL - 21

SP - 300

EP - 309

JO - GAIA

JF - GAIA

SN - 0940-5550

IS - 4

ER -