The transition towards a decarbonized energy system implies stopping the extraction of hydrocarbons to depend on the extraction of a set of minerals considered critical due to their scarcity and their consequent impact on the economy. Furthermore, these raw materials – used in electric vehicle batteries, solar panels or wind turbines – are geographically more concentrated than oil and natural gas, with China leading the market.
Copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, chromium, graphite, manganese and zinc, among others, are some of the main critical minerals. Its strong point: “Unlike oil, which is burned and must be extracted again, these materials can be recovered and reused,” says Xavier Obradors, director of the Barcelona Materials Science Institute (Icmab-CSIC).
“For the European Union and Spain, which have very few resources of critical minerals, their recycling is essential to be able to make the energy transition,” says Obradors. According to a report by the Circe Joint Research Institute (University of Zaragoza) commissioned by Friends of the Earth, recycling, extending the life of technological products and policies to prevent waste would allow up to 67% of the population to be covered with recycled materials. demand for the minerals necessary to carry out the energy and digital transition in Spain until 2050.
“In 2025, supply will be dominated by raw material extraction, because today the recycling rate is basically negligible. In 2035, forecasts improve and recycling alone could already represent 50%,” said Alicia Valero, researcher at the Energy Resources and Consumption Research Center of the University of Zaragoza (Circe), in the presentation of the report. .
For these forecasts to be met, it is first necessary to prepare the ground. “Now is the time to design thinking that these critical minerals can be reused in the future, as well as the time to investigate so that it is technologically viable to recover these materials,” warns Obradors. “Only in this way when, in about ten years, the lithium batteries now in circulation reach the end of their useful life, will we be able to recycle them,” adds the expert.
In the opinion of the director of the Icmab-CSIC, the best incentive for investing in R&D in this direction is that there is demand and the prices of raw materials rise. In this sense, the International Energy Agency expects the critical minerals market to experience unprecedented growth as demand for clean energy drives a strong increase in investment. Obradors is more cautious in his expectations of demand growth because he points out that the International Energy Agency takes little into account the “great advances in R&D that are taking place.”
Both Xavier Obradors and the environmental organization Friends of the Earth emphasize practicing what they call “energy sobriety.” That is, reduce the needs for new raw materials by reducing energy demand.
The European Union has approved that by 2030, 10% of European annual consumption of minerals considered strategic will be extracted from European soil. At the same time, Brussels is intensifying efforts to diversify the supply of minerals from third countries such as Chile, with which it has signed an agreement.
