Consideration of Critical and Strategic Raw Materials in Life Cycle Management

Dear Colleagues,

Raw materials, including metals, minerals, and ores, are crucial for green and digital transformation, including energy storage and conversion and transport. The prosperity and economic competitiveness of many countries depends on safe and secure access to raw materials. Concerns have emerged regarding the availability of minerals, raising questions about the need to open new mining frontiers to meet the demand for these minerals. In the EU, the Critical Raw Materials list has been published since 2011 and is updated every three years. The overall policy, promoting the sustainable production and consumption of raw materials, began in 2000 (Communication (2000) 265 Promoting sustainable development in the EU non-energy extractive industry). In 2008, the Raw Materials Initiative was launched, outlining a strategy aimed at reducing dependencies on non-energy raw materials for industrial value chains and societal well-being. This initiative was structured around three pillars: ensuring a level playing field in accessing resources in developing countries, fostering a sustainable supply of raw materials from European sources, and promoting resource efficiency and recycling, particularly for raw materials identified as critical. After over 15 years, the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act was adopted, with the goal of ensuring a stable supply of minerals crucial for the EU's green and digital transitions and reducing dependency on Chinese supplies. The strategic and critical raw materials are defined not only in the EU but in many other countries, i.e., the US and Canada.

From the Global Resource Outlook 2024 (https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/global-resources-outlook-2024), there  is a 60% projected growth in resource use by 2060, which could derail efforts to achieve not only climate, biodiversity, and pollution targets but could also impact economic prosperity and human well-being. It was underlined that increasing resource use is the main driver for the triple planetary crisis.  Therefore,  to increase sustainable and responsible sourcing of primary and secondary raw materials, a holistic approach based on a life cycle perspective is needed. This Special Issue is focused on (but not restricted to) innovative research papers and original reviews covering the latest advances in theories, methodologies and applications in the fields of the assessment, mining, and processing of mineral resources, and we welcome submissions from any researcher who is interested in mineral resource management.

Prof. Dr. Joanna Kulczycka
Guest Editor

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• critical raw materials
• decoupling
• SDG
• LCA
• recycling
• substitution
• mineral policy
• raw materials management
• circular economy