Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, the 欧美AV is working to draw on the experiences and perspectives of the chemical sciences community to help inform our engagement with policymakers, the research community, and the public.
Following an Environment, Sustainability & Energy Division (ESED) expert roundtable convening experts from industry, academia, and policy held in March 2021, the 欧美AV has published a report that explores how CRMs are sourced, used, and retained within a circular economy when used in electric vehicles, batteries, and wind power.
In discussing the design of and recovery of CRMs from these technologies, this report explores how:
- A transition from a linear to a circular economy is fundamental for a sustainable future for batteries, electric vehicles and wind power
- Collaboration is critical, between industry partners and between industry and academia
- The chemical sciences are contributing solutions for the more sustainable use of CRMs in low carbon technologies
- Remaining challenges need innovative solutions from the chemical sciences
The report also explores the wider considerations that must be taken into account when tackling these challenges – such as the academic and industrial collaborations that are critical and the legislative action that should be advocated for.
More accurate metrics should be developed to track technologies and their component materials throughout their lifetimes, monitored by material tracking databases.
There are specific technical challenges that could benefit from collaboration between chemists, engineers and designers, and which can promote circularity.
Chemists working at the earliest stages of discovery in the area of CRM use and recovery are considering product design and construction when developing their research. This includes the role of design in enabling effective recovery of CRMs and CRM-bearing components.
More tailored recovery techniques are needed to avoid the unintentional loss of CRMs during end-of-life technology processing, such as more advanced smelting approaches. Safe and economically viable recovery techniques should be promoted.
This exploration of the role of CRMs in technology builds on the 欧美AV’s past Elements in Danger campaign that highlighted the precious elements used in consumer tech, as well as the processes needed to mine and refine them that come at considerable environmental cost.
The Environment, Sustainability & Energy Division continues to explore topics of importance to its Research & Innovation community, as well as wider society, and looks forward to interacting with future activity participants in the future.
By Ross Jaggers, Programme Manager, Science Divisions Team
September 2021