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This paper introduces endogenous and directed technical change in a growth model with environmental constraints. The final good is produced from \"dirty\" and \"clean\" inputs. We show that: (i) when inputs are sufficiently substitutable, sustainable growth can be achieved with temporary taxes/subsidies that redirect innovation toward clean inputs; (ii) optimal policy involves both \"carbon taxes\" and research subsidies, avoiding excessive use of carbon taxes; (iii) delay in intervention is costly, as it later necessitates a longer transition phase with slow growth; and (iv) use of an exhaustible resource in dirty input production helps the switch to clean innovation under laissez-faire.

Resource efficiency, energy, and mobility transition are crucial strategies to mitigate climate change. The focus is on reducing the consumption of resources, especially energy and raw materials. While raw materials are the basis of our material world, their excessive consumption over the last decades has also contributed significantly to climate change. However, raw materials, and here especially metals, play a key enabling role as well for climate protection technologies, such as electro mobility, the hydrogen economy, and solar and wind power plants, and also for digitalization. Accordingly, it is necessary to make the use of raw materials much more resource-efficient than before and to use them as purposefully as possible instead of consuming them. Advanced circular economy systems and sophisticated recycling technologies build the backbone for the development of a resource efficient and sustainable society. Closed metal cycles contribute for a paramount share to this by securing relevant parts of the raw material supply for high-tech products and by reducing CO2 emissions in their production at the same time. Interacting steps in multistage treatment processes by mechanical, chemical, and thermal unit operations are challenging but will give a competitive advantage for networks of industry and science that are able to handle that.

In several low- and middle-income countries rich in non-fuel mineral resources, mining makes significant contributions to national economic development as measured by the revised Mining Contribution Index (MCI-Wr). Ten countries among the 20 countries where mining contributes most (highest MCI-Wr score) have moved up one or two steps in the World Bank’s country classification between 1996 and 2016. In particular, African countries have benefitted. Socio-economic development indicators also show signs of progress for African mineral-rich countries. This paper provides an update and expansion of an earlier study within the framework of the United Nations University (UNU) World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) initiative Extractives for Development. Based on the detailed data available for the sector, such as production, export, prices, mineral rents, exploration expenditure and government revenues, an analysis is carried out of the current situation for 2016, and trends in mining’s contribution to economic development for the years 1996–2016. The contribution of minerals and mining to GDP and exports reached a maximum at the peak of the mining boom in 2011. Naturally, the figures for mining’s contribution had declined for most countries by 2016, but importantly the levels were still considerably higher than in 1996. The results of this survey contradict the widespread view that mineral resources create a dependency that might not be conducive to economic and social development. In addition, this paper presents an attempt to use already available socio-economic indicators for African mineral-rich countries to measure socio-economic developments. One preliminary conclusion of this survey is that mining countries perform better than oil-producing countries and non-mineral countries in Africa as measured by these indices of human development and governance.

The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) is an essential regulatory framework designed to address the pressing challenges faced by the European Union (EU) in the strategic sectors of decarbonization, digitalization, and aerospace and defense. It aims to tackle the lack of secure and sustainable access to critical raw materials (CRMs) by increasing anticipation and mitigation of supply risks, fostering domestic CRM potential, and promoting sustainable sourcing practices. Part of a broader “Green Industrial Plan” and aligned with the “Net-Zero Industry Act” (NZIA), the CRMA strives to position the EU as a leading hub for clean tech industries. The NZIA and CRMA packages respond to international trends of protecting clean energy technology and resources, akin to the US Inflation Reduction Act. Defining materials as “strategic” based on their relevance and expected demand for strategic technologies, the CRMA regulation establishes benchmarks for minimum shares of EU demand to be covered by domestically sourced and processed as well as recycled raw materials and aims at reducing dependencies on single third country suppliers in all steps of the supply chain. A communication complements the regulation by focusing on increasing CRM supply security and sustainability through circularity, standardization efforts, skill development, and strategic actions for research and innovation. Establishing a “CRM Club” and partnerships with like-minded countries intend to strengthen international partnerships to safeguard CRM supply security and facilitate sustainable investment in resource-rich nations. Challenges arise concerning the concept of “strategic raw materials” and meeting benchmarks, particularly in materials availability, recycling targets, diversification, and the establishment of necessary skills. Data gaps, potential national differences, coherence with national legislation, long-term economic viability, and potential fuelling of international tensions also pose significant challenges to the effective implementation of the CRMA. Addressing these challenges and embracing the opportunities presented by the CRMA are crucial steps toward achieving sustainable resource management and advancing the EU’s clean tech industries.

Minerals and metals are ingredients necessary for the production of multiple goods and services that are essential to contemporary societies, feeding frequently complex global supply chains. The development of the modern, material-intensive lifestyles has led to a formidable acceleration of their production, particularly since the middle of the 20th century. Despite all the progress that can and needs to be done towards a circular, resource-efficient global economy, several important trends including: demographic growth (United Nations 2019 ), the rapid development of the global middle class (Kharas 2017 ), growing urbanisation (United Nations 2018 ) and the transition towards a low-carbon global economy (Hund et al. 2020 ) point towards a continued, exponential growth of the global demand and production of minerals and metals (Christmann 2017 ; Elshkaki et al. 2018 ; Halada et al. 2008 ; Hund et al. 2020 ; Schipper et al. 2018 ). Despite the efforts made by some producers and some authorities to strengthen the already important contribution of the minerals and metals industry to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the production of minerals and metals has negative impacts both on the global and on local ecosystems. It already contributes to 16% of global CO 2 emissions (OECD 2019 ) and it generates about 50 bn t solid waste per year, 25 times the estimated annual amount of urban waste (Franks et al. 2021 ). This waste is composed of mostly barren rock fragments, essentially overburden that needed to be stripped to access the ore, and of fine-grained ore processing tailings. The latter, if containing sulphides such as pyrite and residual minerals containing elements such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury, selenium or tellurium, can become highly problematic for the well-being of future generations. The production of minerals and metals also can be a source of conflicts and of social disruption. Failure to globally and sustainably manage the production of minerals and metals, in a transparent and multilateral framework providing a stable, foreseeable and level playing field for investors and for trade, could limit the capacity of the industry to reply to future demand and lead to potentially disastrous global conflicts. Depending on the practices of individual producers, on the quality of national and/or regional regulatory frameworks and on the effectiveness of their implementation, a same mineral or metal can be produced under very differing environmental and social conditions. Despite progress on sustainability performance reporting and of transparency of some parts of the industry, end-users of minerals and metals do not know how the minerals and metals they use have been produced and they hardly can choose among various supply sources, although from a sustainability perspective there are great differences among the practices of individual producers. The development of an international governance framework to support the development of transparency and verifiable corporate accountability, to foster research and innovation to reduce the negative impacts of the industry and to provide incentives rewarding pro-sustainability action, is called for. Support to document and disseminate best practice and best available technologies as well as to strengthen the global institutional capacities to manage this very complex and vital industry is needed. This could be an important role for a future International Minerals and Metals Agency. So far, only the exploration and mining of deep-sea mineral deposits located in international zones of the oceans are internationally regulated under the UN Convention On the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS), with a specific International Agency in charge of its implementation and of the provision of scientific and technical guidance: the International Seabed Authority (Kingston, Jamaica), created in 1994. The European Union could and should play an important role in these developments as it is an important global end-user of minerals and metals mostly produced outside its borders. The EU’s environmental footprint outside its borders is very high and growing. According to EUROSTAT trade data, EU imports of goods from beyond its borders doubled in value from 2002 to 2018, with China’s share having grown by over 460% over this period, representing 19% of the total imports of goods. China is the world largest greenhouse gas emitter. EU’s very strong point is its long history of successful research and innovation, dating back to the Renaissance (15th Century BCE). Its very large and highly qualified human resources in science and innovation much benefits from progressive European-scale structuration and integration of mineral- and metal-related research and innovation thanks to the European Union raw material–related policies developed since 2008 (European Commission 2008 ) under the EU Raw Materials Initiative (see p. 20 ff.). The EIT Raw Materials, launched in 2015, is the world largest organised and funded mineral- and metal-related innovation network, linking over 120 partners from academia, industry and research organisations (EIT Raw Materials, 2021). But, despite these positive developments, it so far lacks the legal basis to develop its own mineral resource policy and its own homogeneous regulatory framework. It nevertheless can act in different areas that are linked to the development of a global, minerals and metals industry based on sustainable development principles through its capacity to act as European Union in domains such as development cooperation, energy, environment, higher education, research and innovation, as well as trade. It will require long-term vision and political leadership to develop and implement a sustainable EU raw materials policy that would also act as a catalyst for the development of much needed global minerals and metals governance. The publication by the European Commission, in September 2020, of its Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, part of the European Raw Materials Initiative launched in 2008, could be an important step to address the issues outlined in this paper.

The electrification transition will intensify the demand for lithium. The endowment in the Lithium Triangle is significant, and the expectations for the global supply are high in terms of resources and sustainability. In this paper, we investigate the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges to the future of sustainable lithium extraction. We undertook a qualitative analysis to prioritise the risks associated with these challenges and discussed their interlinkages. We argue that a sustainable perspective for lithium extraction in the region requires continuous and informed dialogue among government, industry and community stakeholders and participatory processes that reduce the asymmetries of power and knowledge. We provide a list of urgent mitigation actions that could assist the move towards sustainability. These include the following. First is expanding our understandings of the water cycle of lithium brines in this region. This should be underpinned by baseline data and ongoing monitoring at the watershed scale, capacity building to strengthen institutions, improved regulations and data infrastructures to promote data transparency and accessibility. Second is integrating biodiversity impacts within existing mining practices and procedures (e.g. Environmental Impact Assessments — EIA). We propose the strategic implementation of the mitigation hierarchy and IFC’s Performance Standards to avoid, reduce and offset the risks of lithium extraction on ecosystem services and critically important biodiversity impacts. Third is strengthening social participatory processes that enable the local communities to become actors in decision-making and the ongoing management and monitoring of lithium projects. Fourth is establishing a framework to support a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) process specific to lithium with a regional approach in the Lithium Triangle.

This paper summarizes and evaluates China’s policies toward the rare-earth industry from 1975 to 2018. We define five stages over this period and focus on China’s purpose, the underlying economic background in each stage, and the connections between stages. By reviewing a broad set of original policy documents, we find that the purpose of China’s policies has evolved, affected by the market players, the development of the mineral industry, and the state of the Chinese economy. Initially, the Chinese government encouraged the development of the upstream rare-earth sector. Since the early 1990s, China has focused on the development of downstream activities that use rare earths in the manufacture of intermediate and final products. Since the early 2000s, China has focused additionally on the problems of disorder in the rare-earth industry with particular reference to the environmental degradation caused by rare-earth production, as well as industrial reorganization to discourage unsanctioned production.

The cobalt market is a market that has frequent supply shortages and crises. This paper looks at the changes in the cobalt market from the period of the 1970s to 2018 to gain insights into how the cobalt market is responding and adjusting to periods of supply shortages. Particular concern has arisen due to the potential large increase in the need for cobalt in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Is the supply of cobalt able to grow at the necessary rate to match the projected increase in the production of electric vehicles? The paper finds that some cobalt market adjustments have occurred over the time period in response to supply risk, but these adjustments have not significantly offset the cobalt market characteristics that largely drive its behavior: by-product supply, the large amount of low-cost material in the DR Congo, and the technical advantages of using cobalt in its applications over potential substitutes. The ramifications for post-2018 are probably more of the same behavior. The cobalt market will continue to make incremental adjustments over time as periodic short-run price spikes occur with the corresponding supply “crisis.” The move of the cobalt market to a dominant end use may make the market even more cyclical and prone to supply crises.

By 2015, global oil consumption will reach 90 million barrels per day. In part, this high level of consumption reflects the fact that many countries provide subsidies for gasoline and diesel. This paper examines global fuel subsidies using the latest available data from the World Bank, finding that road-sector subsidies for gasoline and diesel totaled$110 billion in 2012. Pricing fuels below cost is inefficient because it leads to overconsumption. Under baseline assumptions about supply and demand elasticities, the total annual deadweight loss worldwide is $ 44 billion. Incorporating external costs increases the economic costs substantially.

Critical minerals are the cornerstone of the new round of the industrial revolution. The global division of labor established under the traditional technology, industry, and trade systems is facing a significant restructuring. Global economic and technological changes will lead to a long-term increase in demand for critical minerals. The critical minerals supply chain is rife with political interference and distorted trade practices compared to the robust resource demand. It faces several challenges that threaten the sustainability of the supply chain. We analyze the evolving security connotation of critical minerals supply chains. We also provide an overview of research on quantifying risks of critical minerals from two aspects: security evaluation mechanism and global value chain. The interdisciplinary research techniques and methods are more adapted to the new trends of international competition in critical minerals. The article reviews relevant security risk identification and response research in critical minerals supply chains. It analyzes how to address the risk challenges from national strategies. Finally, the article explores new trends under new technological revolution and industrial change.