Critical materials are integral to clean energy technologies, from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicle batteries. Philippine notes that global demand for these materials is skyrocketing as countries work toward net-zero emissions.
Citing the International Energy Agency (IEA), she explains: “Achieving global net-zero emissions by 2050 will require six times more mineral inputs in 2040 compared to 2020. This surge in demand presents a challenge.”
Meeting this demand, however, is far from straightforward. De T’Serclaes points out that mine supply alone cannot keep pace due to several factors:
Finite availability of raw materialsThe geographic concentration of resources – with many critical materials sourced from a small number of countries, supply chains face heightened risks of disruptionA lack of cost-effective substitutes for these materials in many applications
She warns: “This scarcity accentuates the urgency for the critical materials value network to prioritise circular best practices that align with global sustainability efforts.”
Circularity: the backbone of clean energy supply chains
For Philippine, circularity – the practice of designing products and systems to reuse materials and minimise waste – is not optional but essential.
She explains: “It extends the lifecycle of materials, transforms waste into resources and minimises dependency on finite raw resources.”
However, she argues that recycling alone will not be enough. While recycling can reduce pressure on primary supply, studies suggest that even by 2040, recycling spent batteries could only lower the need for new supplies of materials like copper, lithium and cobalt by 10%.
“Recycling practices are not yet fully developed for many materials, and recycling alone doesn’t completely eliminate the need for investment in new supply,” she says.
This is why emerging waste streams from clean energy technologies, such as decommissioned wind turbine blades or solar panels, must also be addressed through circular design.
Philippine stresses that circularity requires a holistic view of the entire lifecycle of critical materials – from extraction and processing to end-of-life recovery: “A generative, low-waste economy demands that we consider these stages as interconnected parts of a broader ecosystem.”