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Midpoint and endpoint characterization factors for the ADR method. CFs are shown in ascending order and log scale to facilitate comparison between methods. Black lines indicate the 95% confidence intervals. Average values for all CFs are provided in Table 1; values for the 95% confidence intervals are provided in Tables S1 and S2 of the SI
Source publication
Purpose
The accessibility to most metals is crucial to modern societies. In order to move towards more sustainable use of metals, it is relevant to reduce losses along their anthropogenic cycle. To this end, quantifying dissipative flows of mineral resources and assessing their impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA) has been a challenge brought up...
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Citations
... For example, depletion of metals from sources that are not considered mineral resources within the time frame of the study, metals that are incorporated in products or wastes (that are not currently receiving treatment for recovery, but may serve as source for the recovery of metals in the future), and metals lost as emissions that may in the future form a new source of extraction, should be differentiated from truly dissipative emissions, i.e., emissions that result in present and future loss of accessibility to the resource in question [75,76]. To that end, methodologies and indicators have been proposed to estimate and incorporate into LCA the true dissipative losses of metals [75,77,78], with, for example, Ag exhibiting higher dissipation [75,78], and marginally lower lifecycle [79], compared to Cu. Insights from this type of analysis can be used to generate both midpoint and endpoint indicators [78,80], which can be used to improve the current method of calculating minerals' and metals' resource depletion impacts in Life Cycle Impact Assessment methodologies. In the case study examined here on metal NNP, the results on resource depletion (Fig. 10) are in agreement with the findings on comparative metal dissipation rates from literature. ...
... For example, depletion of metals from sources that are not considered mineral resources within the time frame of the study, metals that are incorporated in products or wastes (that are not currently receiving treatment for recovery, but may serve as source for the recovery of metals in the future), and metals lost as emissions that may in the future form a new source of extraction, should be differentiated from truly dissipative emissions, i.e., emissions that result in present and future loss of accessibility to the resource in question [75,76]. To that end, methodologies and indicators have been proposed to estimate and incorporate into LCA the true dissipative losses of metals [75,77,78], with, for example, Ag exhibiting higher dissipation [75,78], and marginally lower lifecycle [79], compared to Cu. Insights from this type of analysis can be used to generate both midpoint and endpoint indicators [78,80], which can be used to improve the current method of calculating minerals' and metals' resource depletion impacts in Life Cycle Impact Assessment methodologies. In the case study examined here on metal NNP, the results on resource depletion (Fig. 10) are in agreement with the findings on comparative metal dissipation rates from literature. ...
... For example, depletion of metals from sources that are not considered mineral resources within the time frame of the study, metals that are incorporated in products or wastes (that are not currently receiving treatment for recovery, but may serve as source for the recovery of metals in the future), and metals lost as emissions that may in the future form a new source of extraction, should be differentiated from truly dissipative emissions, i.e., emissions that result in present and future loss of accessibility to the resource in question [75,76]. To that end, methodologies and indicators have been proposed to estimate and incorporate into LCA the true dissipative losses of metals [75,77,78], with, for example, Ag exhibiting higher dissipation [75,78], and marginally lower lifecycle [79], compared to Cu. Insights from this type of analysis can be used to generate both midpoint and endpoint indicators [78,80], which can be used to improve the current method of calculating minerals' and metals' resource depletion impacts in Life Cycle Impact Assessment methodologies. In the case study examined here on metal NNP, the results on resource depletion (Fig. 10) are in agreement with the findings on comparative metal dissipation rates from literature. ...
... In addition, from the analysis of numerical factor values, it is not possible to distinguish the contributions of different dissipative processes along the life cycle of a product system. To overcome the problem of the limited number of resources considered, the same group of authors extended the number of metals characterized by dissipative flows, for both LPST and ADR factors, in a 2022 paper [23]. A further step in the work led to the assessment of the potential impact of resource dissipation in the socio-economic sphere since the value and utility of a resource can be represented by its average price over a given time interval. ...
... The mitigation factor, on the other hand, is expressed by summing the products of each country's indicators of political instability GI j (derived from the World Bank's WGI) by IS c,j , which is the import share of country "c" in the country's market "j". Equation (23) was applied to twelve individual elements and two groups of elements (REEs and PGMs), considering the main global economies and the so-called emerging countries. The work of Gemechu et al. [64] was the starting point for the alignment of the geopolitical risk method with other typical midpoint indicators used in LCA, with which a mass flow can be associated. ...
Mineral resources and metals are integral to modern society, with growing demand driven by recent technological advancements. Life cycle assessment (LCA) provides a valuable framework for assessing resource use, and numerous methodologies have been developed to address both the midpoint and endpoint levels of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing LCIA methodologies related to minerals and metals, with a focus on recent developments, progress made, and potential future directions. It examines these LCIA methods in terms of resources considered, underlying assumptions, data sources, and identified limitations. According to the nature of the underlying considerations, the various methods are grouped into different families. In addition, the novelty of this article is to place raw material criticality considerations alongside LCA characterization methods; however, only one class of critical raw materials, rare earth elements (REEs), is considered. These REEs are mainly used in electrical and electronic components (e.g., electric vehicle motors) and in various renewable energy technologies (e.g., wind turbines) due to their unique properties that make them difficult to substitute. However, their supply is constrained by limited global reserves and their concentration in a few countries. This situation highlights the need for more reliable and accurate data on resource production and recycling. Additionally, this review presents case studies that apply LCIA methods to real-world scenarios, illustrating current capabilities as well as areas where further research and refinement are needed.
... The problem-oriented midpoint approach seems more accurate in presenting a full picture of the environmental impacts associated with an activity, which may allow for a more detailed identification of hotspots. Many authors (Abu-Bakar et al., 2023;Charpentier Poncelet et al., 2022;Ferrara and De Feo, 2023;Ghisellini et al., 2023;Tushar et al., 2022) combine midpoint and endpoint approaches to further contribute to the interpretation and communication of the analysis results and, as a result, to gain the information when assessing the environmental impacts of a specific activity. ...
... This facilitates comparisons between different syntheses processes or products and supports decision-making by identifying areas for improvement. 47,48 Figure 4 represents the single score of the damage categories toward the different synthesis methods. Aligning with the midpoint categories, the green synthesis contributes the highest single score of 1346 mPt combining three damage categories, as represented in Table S24. ...
... In the recent years, in parallel to, or after, the GLAM2 review and recommendation work, several methods have been developed to address reduction of resource accessibility and resource dissipation (i.e., full inaccessibility) in LCA, both at the LCI and LCIA levels, namely, Environmental Dissipation Potential (EDP; van Oers et al. 2020b), Abiotic Resource Project method (ARP; Owsianiak et al. 2022), Average Dissipation Rate and Lost Potential Service Time (ADR/LPST; Charpentier-Poncelet et al. 2021, 2022c, and Joint Research Centre-LCI (JRC-LCI; Beylot et al. 2021), complemented by JRC price-based (Ardente et al. 2023) to capture value loss. Comparatively, methods related to depletion, future efforts, thermodynamic accounting, and to a lower extent supply risks, received in the meanwhile less emphasis from both scientific community and standardization/harmonization initiatives (e.g., in the PEF context, towards potentially delivering new recommendation). ...
... The abiotic depletion potential method, ultimate reserves (ADP ultimate reserves ; van Oers et al. 2020a), is intended to capture the issue of mineral resource depletion, i.e., the contribution to exhaust the natural stock of a non-renewable resource, in turn limiting its availability to future generations. The average dissipation rate (ADR) and lost potential service time (LPST) methods are grounded on the concept of service time of resources, that is, the duration over which resources provide a service within the economy, from their extraction from ecosphere until dissipation after one or several uses (Charpentier-Poncelet et al. 2022c). ADR and LPST are two different methods: ADR CFs correspond to rates (by definition), while LPST is a distance-to-target method in which the target is defined as an optimum service time. ...
... The data implemented in the dynamic MFA modelling in particular include: distribution of metals in 29 sectors of use, product lifetimes specific to each of these 29 applications, process yields, and collection and functional recycling rates, whose associated values are drawn from massive literature data collection. The extension of CFs to 61 metals is similarly based on extended and updated dynamic MFAs (Charpentier-Poncelet et al. 2022c). ...
Purpose
The depletion-based ADP method has been extensively used for more than 20 years in LCA. A discussion on the core concepts and assumptions it is grounded on is however still needed. Several methods were recently developed to address reduction of resources accessibility and dissipation in LCA; namely, EDP, ADR/LPST, ARP, and JRC-LCI, complemented by price-based JRC to capture value loss. This article aims at critically analyzing these methods.
Methods
It first describes the methods, in terms of concept, target, resource flows in scope, midpoint and/or endpoint impact mechanism, and temporal scope. It then performs an in-depth analysis of these methods, in order (i) to discuss assumptions and modelling choices from a user perspective (LCA practitioners and decision-makers) and (ii) to highlight and discuss the scientific-evidence and scenarios on which they build.
Results and discussion
This article gives an overview of the methods’ relevance to the safeguard subject, model robustness, data quality and completeness, and operability. The ADPUltimate Reserves, EDP, and ARP methods rely on several assumptions, at the same time core in the modelling and scientifically questionable for some aspects. ADPUltimate Reserves and EDP methods both do not address the loss of value of mineral resources, while the JRC-LCI (and potentially ARP) methods combined with JRC price-based, and the ADR/LPST endpoint, do (considering economic value). Overall two schools of thought are identified, regarding recent methods that strive addressing mineral resources use in LCA: a first one building on currently available LCI databases, implementing assumptions and proxies (ADR/LPST, EDP, ARP), and a second one pledging for new LCIs to be developed (JRC-LCI method).
Conclusions
This article highlights and challenges some of the key underlying choices and assumptions on which the reviewed methods are based. Intentionally, it does not provide any recommendation on which methods shall be implemented. Yet we encourage authoritative initiatives in the LCA domain (e.g., UNEP GLAM or PEF) and LCA practitioners to cautiously and critically select LCIA methods. We moreover highlight that the approach undertaken by the “first school” is certainly easier to operationalize in the short-term, though it necessarily requires proxies to overcome unfit-for-purposes existing LCI datasets. On the contrary, the effort initiated by the “second school” calls for a deep change of paradigm on modelling mineral resources in LCIs, which certainly requires a longer timeframe for implementation. The latter however looks very promising for LCAs to be truly supportive of more resource-efficient products and systems.
... Examples of the potential recovery of raw materials from mining waste and landfills have been already explored in the literature for In regards to the proposal of a value function, the method uses price and economic importance information. Multiple limitations of the use of price information have been discussed in the literature (Ardente et al. 2022;Charpentier Poncelet et al. 2022), highlighting mainly their dynamic nature and dependency on factors that go beyond the scope of what the EVDP method is capable to measure. The concept of value depends on multiple factors attributable mainly to the economic agent that assesses the resource. ...
Purpose
Resource dissipation (RD) is a phenomenon that has been identified as a barrier toward a circular economy (CE) due to potential losses of value and functionality in the technosphere along the life cycle of products. Concerns around the availability and accessibility of resources make relevant the development of methods that allow to identify the impacts associated to these losses.
Methods
The economic value dissipation potential (EVDP) is an impact assessment method in life cycle assessment (LCA) that integrates two aspects in the evaluation of RD: the identification of potentially dissipative flows and the value loss associated to them. It is conceived to complement previous efforts to assess RD. First, the method proposes a function that estimates the fraction of a mass flow that can be considered potentially dissipative by comparing the resource concentration in dissipation compartments with a threshold, set as a current estimation of a global average minimum grade for primary resource extraction. Next, the method assigns a value to these flows based on the integration of the price and economic importance of the resources to model potential value loss due to dissipation.
Results and discussion
A first application of the method allows to obtain pre-calculated characterization factors (CFs) for 15 resources. These factors are applied to a case study on a NMC lithium-ion battery recycling process through hydrometallurgy. According to the method, the process allows to avoid 3.79 USD-eq in losses due to dissipation per kilogram of treated battery. This method and the results of its application are discussed in relation to the JRC and EDP methods, two other methods that capture RD in LCA.
Conclusions
The results of the application of the EVDP method based on economic considerations provide complementary information to current impact assessment methods, therefore having the potential to support decision-making processes based on LCA. Potential improvements vary on feasibility; the main barrier is the absence of detailed information to generate CFs for more resources. Moreover, the granularity required to apply the method is not currently found in LCIs; also, CFs require constant updates to follow the dynamic nature of the data.
... Recently, new work has been carried out where they developed midpoint and endpoint characterization factors considering dissipative resources. This study showed that having more impact on midpoint indicators is related to large resource flows, while the impact on the endpoint is relatively dependent on the resource market price (Charpentier Poncelet et al., 2022). Notwithstanding, many recommendations have taken place in this regard. ...
Many metals and minerals are the backbone of the clean energy transition. However, its extraction and production are known to be a source of various environmental impacts. The use of a multicriteria assessment tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of the production of these elements is still poorly developed. Therefore, science-based decisions to achieve carbon neutrality are limited as the whole life cycle is generally not considered. This systematic review was conducted to analyse three main aspects: (i) the context of LCA application in the mining industry, (ii) the methodology followed by LCA practitioners in literature , and (iii) the environmental impacts of different metals and minerals in multiple contexts. Seventy-eight (78) papers studying the life cycle of different metals and minerals were analyzed. The results of the methodology adopted in literature show some tendencies in terms of functional unit, system boundary, data source and software used. Among the studied elements, gold showed the highest impact in the global warming potential (GWP), terrestrial acidification (TP), water depletion (WD) and land use (LU). In the other hand, the comparison of those elements' global carbon footprint in 2021 showed that coal has scored the highest impact at 1.49x10 9 t CO 2 eq. This study highlights also the need to conduct more LCA studies on strategic metals (Li, Co, Mn, REE) for the clean energy transition to reach the net zero carbon target. Moreover, a comparative analysis between the reported data in the Ecoinvent database and the average values extracted from literature showed aligned results for GWP while it reveals a gap for the other indicators.
... These two latter methods do not enable the assessment of the consequences of dissipation on resource services deficit, as they are not linked with the demand of resource services. Beylot et al. (2020a) and Charpentier- Poncelet et al. (2022c) proposed to characterize the impact of dissipated flows of resources on the basis of their market price. However, even if there are numerous examples of metals with high values in terms of the functions they provide, which are correlated to the high prices that economic actors are willing to pay for these functions, Watson and Eggert (2020) stated that the market price is only partly connected to the consumption and functionality of resources ("The results suggest that energy requirements in production explain 43% of observed variation in metal prices, crustal abundance 21% (…)"). ...
Introduction and literature review
Abiotic resources are extensively used in industrialized societies to deliver multiple services that contribute to human well-being. Their increased extraction and use can potentially reduce their accessibility, increase competition among users, and ultimately lead to a deficit of those services. Life cycle assessment is a relevant tool to assess the potential damages of dissipating natural resources. Building on the general consensus recommending evaluating the damages on the instrumental value of resources to humans in order to assess the consequences of resources dissipation, this research work proposes a novel conceptual framework to assess the potential loss of services provided by abiotic resources, which when facing unmet demand can lead to a deficit to human users and have consequences on human well-being.
Results
A framework is proposed to describe the mechanisms that link human intervention on the resources in the accessible stock to competition among users. Users facing the deficit of resource services are assumed to have to pay to recover the services, using backup technologies. The mechanisms that are proposed to be characterized are dissipation and degradation. Data needed to later operationalize the framework for abiotic resources are identified. It also proposes a framework at the life cycle inventory level to harmonize life cycle inventories with the current impact assessment framework to fully characterize impacts on resource services. It regards ensuring mass balances of elements between inputs and outputs of life cycle inventory datasets as well as including the functionality of resource flows.
Discussion and conclusions
The framework provides recommendations for the development of operational life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods for resource services deficit assessment. It establishes the impact pathway to damage on the area of protection “Resource Services”, data needed to feed the model and recommendations to improve the current state of life cycle inventories to be harmonized with the LCIA framework.
Graphical Abstract
... Owsianiak et al. (2021) have further improved this approach to distinguish the actual dissipative emissions of resources to environment from non-dissipative ones. 2) Charpentier Poncelet et al. (2021Poncelet et al. ( , 2022 computed expected dissipation patterns of 61 metals from harmonized dynamic MFA data, subsequently integrating potential dissipative flows in CFs. The latter can directly be applied to flows of primary resources extracted from ground as reported in LCIs. ...
... It is moreover noteworthy that other LCIA methods may be applied to characterize the impact induced by potentially dissipative flows as accounted for in the JRC-LCI method, such as the price-based CFs as developed and tested in combination with the JRC-LCI method by Ardente et al. (2022). Instead, for example, average dissipation rate (ADR) and lost potential service time (LPST) CFs (Charpentier- Poncelet et al. 2022) account for dissipation and shall be applied to elementary flows of resources extracted from ground as classically reported in LCI databases, that is, not in combination with the JRC-LCI method which also-differently-accounts for dissipation at the LCI level. ...
PurposeSeveral approaches addressing mineral resource dissipation have recently been developed in life cycle assessment. One of them, developed by the JRC of the European Commission (JRC-LCI), suggests to account for dissipative resource flows in life cycle inventories (LCIs). This article aims at (i) further testing this approach on case studies, to derive insights regarding its potential large-scale implementation in LCI databases and (ii) complementing the previous JRC work by capturing the severity of dissipation and associated value loss in LCIA results.Methods
Firstly, this study defines the following impact pathway as relevant to address the safeguard subject for mineral resources: after the use of resources by a product system, these resources are partly rendered inaccessible to future users (for a more or less long duration), which subsequently implies the loss of the value these resources hold for users. Secondly, this study suggests building on the JRC-LCI method, which accounts for dissipative resource flows at the unit process level, to assess the value loss resulting from resource dissipation through the development of characterization factors that integrate both compartment-dependent inaccessibility durations and prices of resources. Finally, 11 case studies are defined: 10 “cradle-to-gate” (primary production of raw materials) and one “cradle-to-grave” (lithium-ion battery) systems, using ecoinvent LCI datasets.Results and discussionAt the LCI level, metallurgical processes account for the largest share of potentially dissipated resources in five cradle-to-gate systems, while each step of the cradle-to-grave battery system excepting the use phase shows important contributions. End-of-life disposal and mining processes represent the largest contributions to LCIA results (value loss) in the battery system, primarily driven by copper dissipation, and with final waste disposal facilities as dominant compartment. The impact assessment results are sensitive to the duration of inaccessibility of resources in final waste disposal facilities (over tens or hundreds of years) and in environment (over thousands of years). Finally, insights regarding the replicability of the JRC-LCI method, the integration of dissipative flows in LCI datasets, and mass balance issues are provided.Conclusions
The accounting for dissipative flows in LCIs, and associated severity of value loss in LCIA, offers new perspectives to address the safeguard subject for mineral resources. The applicability of the JRC-LCI method has been demonstrated. Full operationalization now depends on its implementation in LCI databases. This would (i) result in higher quality of LCI datasets through balanced inventories and (ii) support more resource-efficient decision-making, especially when combined with characterization factors as those developed in this study.
