irp global metal flows working groupec.europa.eu/environment/archives/greenweek2013/... · outlook...

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IRP Global Metal Flows Working Group Ester van der Voet, Leiden University and IRP member Green Week, Brussels, 5 June 2013

2 www.unep..org/resourcepanel/

UNEP-IRP Global Metal Flows Working Group (chair Thomas Graedel, director Center for Industrial Ecology, Yale University)


UNEP’s Global Metal Flows Working Group Investigating the “Metals Challenge”

Work on a series of six assessment reports

• Report 1: Metal Stocks in Society (published in 2010)

• Report 2a: Recycling Rates of Metals (published 2011)

• Report 2b: Metal Recycling – Opportunities, Limits, Infrastructure (published 2013)

• Report 3: Environmental Risks and Challenges of Anthropogenic Metals Flows and Cycles (published 2013)

• Report 4: Future Demand Scenarios for Metals

• Report 5: Critical Metals and Metal Policy Options


The metals challenge Metals are essential for economic development

− Infrastructure and technologies Global demand for metals is increasing

− Infrastructure and appliances in developing countries − New technologies, incl. environmental technologies

Appliance complexity is increasing − Functionality, miniaturization and manufacturing technologies create more complex metal combinations, including rare elements

The increasing global demand for metals causes many problems and challenges − Increasing environmental pressures from extraction and manufacturing of raw materials − Growing dependence on regional or economic concentrations of natural resources − Increasing risks of international crisis (e.g. war lord activities in parts of Africa) − Social tensions among local populations (land owner issues etc.)

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Report 3: Environmental Risks and Challenges of Anthropogenic Metals Flows and Cycles by Ester van der Voet et al.

Objectives of the report

Collect and present information on − anthropogenic metal cycles and their link with natural metal cycles − fate and impacts of metals in the environment − energy use and environmental impacts of metals and their applications over the whole life cycle

Present an outlook on potential future developments and urgent issues to address

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Let me start here today with the new report on “Environmental Risks and Challenges of Anthropogenic Metals Flows and Cycles” which was developed by a group of international experts lead by Panel member Ester van der Voet, present there with us The is the third report produced by the IRP’s Working Group on Global Metal Flows Working Group, where the existing literature on the environmental impacts of metals and their use is brought together, and conclusions are drawn with regard to the impacts, their causes, and possible options to reduce them The report also presents an outlook on potential future developments and urgent issues to address


Local environmental impacts related to production of metals Primary metal production causes severe local environmental impacts

• E.g. water consumption, groundwater pollution, mine wastes, air emissions (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide etc.), land use, biodiversity loss


Anthropogenic and natural metal cycles Anthropogenic metal cycles can be orders of magnitude larger than natural metal cycles. Losses from anthropogenic cycles are relatively small: emissions of metals lie roughly in the same order of magnitude as emissions from natural

The anthropogenic metal emissions are increasingly dominated by non-metal sources (e.g. fossil fuels, phosphate fertilizers):

• Industrial point source emissions from the metals industry have been addressed • Dissipative and non-metal sources continue to increase

Environmental concentrations of metals around large production facilities

sometimes above threshold values • Decades of research in this area: fate and impacts of metals in the environment • Most urgent global level problems, however, are elsewhere

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The work carried out by Ester van der Voet for the International Resource Panel confirms that anthropogenic metal cycles can be orders of magnitude larger than natural metal cycles Emissions to the environment, however, are roughly in the same order of magnitude as natural emissions. The anthropogenic metal emissions to the environment are increasingly dominated by non-metal sources reflecting the increasing global demand for fossil energy carriers and the growth of extensive agriculture Developments differ a lot depending on the demand for the different metals. In the case of declining demand (e.g. cadmium or mercury), emissions from old stocks dominate; in the case of growing demand emissions related to mining, refining and use rise proportionally to increased production.

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Metals production and energy use Primary metals production is responsible for 7-8% of the total global energy use Due to declining ore grades for some metals (e.g. gold, copper, nickel) the energy demand for primary metals production could further increase Most important life cycle impact of metals are related to energy use: metals cause a significant part of global greenhouse gas emissions Secondary production uses 2 orders of magnitude less energy/kg material Life cycle assessment (LCA) for specific applications of metals

• Metals often contribute significantly to life cycle emissions due to high energy intensity • Use of metals can also reduce life cycle emissions (e.g. electric vehicles)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The report confirms that global metals production shows tremendous impact on the world’s energy use, as primary metals production is responsible for 7-8% of the total global energy use. The gross energy requirement varies significantly per kg of metal produced. Nevertheless due to their large production volumes steel, aluminum and base metals cause the largest share on the global energy use for primary metals production. Despite significant existing potential for increasing energy efficiency by using currently available technology declining ore grades for some metals (e.g. gold, copper, nickel) could even further increase the energy demand for primary metals production. On the other hand, secondary production of metals requires significantly less energy per kg metal produced, even up to two orders of magnitude. Recycling therefore must be a very important part of a sustainable metals’ management!


Life cycle impacts of metals Technologies to reduce environmental impacts also require metals

Source: Kleijn et al, 2011


Life cycle impacts of metals Upscaling to the global level: materials requirement of energy transition

Source: Kleijn et al, 2011


Outlook Continued global rise in metals demand expected for the next decades:

• urbanisation and build-up of infrastructure in developing countries • adoption of new technologies in industry and consumer products • transition to renewable energy system

This will increases the environmental impacts due to the extraction and refining of primary metals

Exploiting lower ore-grades could even accelerate this trend

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Sustainable metals management

Basis for a sustainable metals management is a closed loop economy: secondary production as the main source

• Recycling technology / infrastructure development • Steady state demand

Include non-metal sources of emission (fossil fuels, fertiliser) Improve primary production

• especially impacts of mining End-of-life management (100% recycling not possible): create final sink.


Metals recycling How much do we have in stock? Global Metals Flows report no 1: Metal Stocks in Society Societal stocks for metals large and growing rapidly Urban mining an important future source

Metal Estimated stock /

cap (kg/cap) Estimated global stock (kg.106)

Iron 2,200 14,300,000 Aluminium 80 520,000 Copper 45 292,500 Lead 8 52,000

Global Stocks of Metals

Presenter

Presentation Notes



Metals recycling: Global Metal Flows report 2a: Recycling rates

Presenter

Presentation Notes



Metals recycling We need to improve recycling rates, especially for small scale metals Global Metal Flows report 2b: Metal Recycling – Opportunities, Limits, Infrastructure Developing recycling technologies

Presenter

Presentation Notes



The recycling process is mainly determined by the carrier metals: DfR, DfRE


Collection as part of the recycling system Enhancing suitable collection infrastructure to enhance collection rates

Secure sufficient volumes to facilitate economic recycling (e.g. metallurgical processing): economic incentives for the delivery of waste to BAT operators (e.g. for discarded mobile phones)


Future work of IRP Global Metal Flow Working Group Scenario development

Integrative effort for all IRP reports

Building on existing scenario work (IPCC, GEO)

Including linkages between resources

Translating micro-level technologies and innovations to macro-global-level

Policy recommendations

From the total picture of present and potential challenges

irp global metal flows working groupec.europa.eu/environment/archives/greenweek2013/... · outlook...

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