Robust Assessments of Lithium Mining Impacts Embodied in Global Supply Chain Require Spatially Explicit Analyses

Sun, X., Giljum, S., Maus, V. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7385-4723, Schomberg, A., Zhang, S., & You, F. (2025). Robust Assessments of Lithium Mining Impacts Embodied in Global Supply Chain Require Spatially Explicit Analyses. Environmental Science & Technology 10.1021/acs.est.4c12749.

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Abstract

Lithium is a critical material for the energy transition, but its mining causes significant environmental impacts that will intensify due to surging global demand. Here, we conduct a mining site-specific environmental impact assessment of lithium on a global scale, focusing on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use, and land use. We then track the production and international trade flows of all lithium-containing commodities to assess how lithium mining impacts are distributed across global supply chains. Results indicate that environmental impact intensities of battery-grade Li2CO3 production from various mine sites differ between 4 times for GHG emissions to 2885 times for land use. 56-68% of environmental impacts generated in the mining countries were embodied in internationally traded lithium flows. On the production side, China, Australia, and Chile were the top 3 countries, accounting for 91-94% of environmental impacts. Regarding final demand, China was the major consuming region, inducing 46-47% of the environmental impacts of global lithium mining, followed by Korea (17-18%) and the EU-27 (9%). Our findings reveal the need for spatially explicit information to accurately assess the environmental impacts of lithium mining and highlight that mitigation requires cooperation between major producer and consumer countries.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	environmental impacts; life cycle assessment; lithium resource; supply chain
Research Programs:	Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) > Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES)
Depositing User:	Luke Kirwan
Date Deposited:	13 Mar 2025 14:27
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2025 14:27
URI:	https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/20449

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