At the end of this month, the United Nations' International Resource Panel is set to publish its flagship Global Resources Outlook report. It highlights how the global demand for raw materials has increased fourfold since 1970 and is set to rise by 60% in 2060. The report also discusses how the extractive human activities disrupt the balance of the Earth's ecosystems.
Extensive Raw Material Extraction
The technosphere, or the totality of human-made products, is already heavier than the biosphere. From the 2020s onward, the weight of concrete, metal and other materials have exceeded that of life on Earth. Production of such materials are a major contributor to global warming, ocean acidification, and rapid extinction of plants and animals.
To meet the demand for raw materials, the mining industry requires annexation of large portions of land for extraction and transportation. This means that its energy consumption will also rise by more than three times.
Particular attention is also focused on critical materials, or those resources needed in producing key technologies for energy transition. Right now, the race for critical materials is geopolitical in nature, with each major power securing supplies in allied countries.
Critical raw materials are also indispensable in attaining sustainability. For instance, the EU deems nickel a strategic material in view of its role in developing batteries. A wind turbine may require nine times the mineral inputs of a conventional gas-fired power plant. On the other hand, the average electric vehicle contains between 6 and 10 times those of its conventional counterpart,
This does not mean that a green economy would use greater quantities of materials than the current sources based on fossil fuels. Energy consumption from mineral demand for transition technologies is dwarfed by that which comes from mineral demand for the rest of the economy. In spite of that, the mineral demand of the energy transition fuels the mining industry particularly in copper and lithium sectors.
According to experts, mining should change in order to reduce its environmental impact. The use of secondary materials relative to newly-extracted ones is decreasing, while the rates of mineral recovery from recycling remain low. In a status report from the UN, it was revealed that the recycling rate for most of the 60 metals under study was below one percent.
Such trends indicate that throwing more materials onto the market lowers prices, but raises energy consumption and proliferates environmental damages. In other words, there is actually nothing "green" about urban mining or the circular economy.
Role of Degrowth in Energy Transition
To change society's dependence on economic growth, the degrowth strategy is promoted to downscale destructive and excessive productions. It also encourages wealthy nations to reduce energy and resource consumption.
This term does not necessarily suggest that all economic sectors should shrink, but society-nature relations should regain some balance. This can be attained by reducing the unsustainable global consumption of materials and energy in a radical and egalitarian manner. However, insufficiency of engineering and green growth programs leads to declining interest in degrowth strategies.
As the impact of the environmental crisis becomes greater, other concerned groups have also recognized that certain sectors, like shipping and aviation, should cut to virtually zero consumption over the next two or three decades. This means that political strategies must be forged through which to plan priority sectors.
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