title: Environmental criticality of raw materials
title: Environmental criticality of raw materials
titleType: AlternativeTitle
Creators: name: Dehoust, Günter
name: Manhart, Andreas
name: Dolega, Peter
Publisher: name: Umweltbundesamt
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Rohstoffreserve
subject: Übriger Bergbau
subject: raw materials
subject: raw material availability
subject: criticality
subject: environmental hazard potential
subject: mining
subject: Waste | Resources

description: Das Projekt ÖkoRess II hat das im Vorgängerprojekt ÖkoRess I entwickelte rohstoffbezogene Bewertungsschema auf eine Vielzahl von mineralischen Rohstoffen angewendet. Insgesamt wurde eine Auswahl von 61 Rohstoffen oder Rohstoffgruppen bewertet. Die Auswahl basiert auf den Rohstoffen, die in der Kritikalitätsbewertung für die Europäische Kommission im Jahr 2014 (Europäische Kommission 2014/2015) untersucht wurden. Sie wurde, soweit möglich, mit den Kandidatenlisten der Neuauflage dieser 2017 veröffentlichten Kritikalitätsbeurteilung (Europäische Kommission 2017) verglichen. Eine weitere Forschungsfrage war die Identifizierung eines Governance-Indikators, der die Governance des Bergbausektors eines Landes in Bezug auf Umweltaspekte am besten widerspiegelt. Acht Indikatoren wurden an 23 Fallstudien getestet. Als Ergebnis, das in einer separaten Studie (ÖkoRess II 2019 b) veröffentlicht wurde, wurde der Environmental Performance Index (EPI) als am besten geeignet anerkannt. Quelle: Forschungsbericht
description: The project ÖkoRess II has applied the raw material-related evaluation scheme developed within the precursor project ÖkoRess I to a wide range of mineral raw materials. In total a selection of 61 raw materials or raw material groups have been assessed. The selection is based on the raw materials examined in the criticality assessment for the European Commission in 2014 (European Commission 2014/2015). As far as possible, it was compared with the candidate lists of the new edition of this criticality assessment published in 2017 (European Commission 2017). A further research question was to identify a governance indicator which reflects best a country´s mining sector governance with regard to environmental aspects. Eight indicators were tested on 23 case studies. In result, published in a separate study (ÖkoRess II 2019 b1), the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was recognized as best suited. Quelle: Forschungsbericht
description: Within the project OekoRess II, more than 50 mineral raw materials were evaluated with regard to the environmental hazard potential of mining using and further refining the methodology developed in the predecessor project OekoRess I.The evaluation system consists of eight indicators on geological, technical and site-related environmental hazard potentials of mining, two supplementary indicators on the magnitude of global energy and material flows and one indicator on environmental governance in the producing countries. These 11 indicators were qualitatively assessed for each raw material on a three-level traffic light scale. Further information, such as the relevance of small-scale mining, complements the raw material profiles. The 8 indicators for environmental hazard potentials were combined into an aggregated environmental hazard potential, which is qualitatively assessed on a five-level scale. This enables the identification of priority raw materials for political, civil-society and private sector measures to increase resource efficiency, close material cycles and perform environmental due diligence in raw material supply chains. It is proposed to designate raw materials as environmentally critical if they are of high importance in terms of their use, e.g. for the transformation of the energy system, and at the same time show a high aggregated environmental hazard potential in terms of the methodology developed and applied here.The Environmental Criticality Report briefly describes the methodology and presents the evaluation results in an overview as well as in comprehensive material profiles. Results are discussed by comparison with the list of critical raw materials for the EU 2017. Finally, recommendations for action for politics, companies and society are described in order to reduce the environmental impacts associated with raw material extraction - through responsible mining practices and responsible raw material supply chains on the one hand and reduced and circular raw material use on the other.