Volume 64

Addressing Sustainability Risks of Material is Key for a Just Energy and Industrial Transition: Research Directions from an Interdisciplinary View Franziska M. Hoffart, David Piorunek, Philipp Krooβ, Anna Schomberg, Stefen Lechtenböhmer, Thomas Niendorf

Abstract

Resources and raw materials are key enablers for the energy and industrial transformation needed to com-bat current climate and socio-ecological crises. Important substitution processes, such as defossilisation, shape the trajectory of the new raw material supply chain. Whenever raw materials or resources are sourced from the ground, processed, used and recycled, they can create unintended environmental, social and justice issues, leading to conflicting sustainability goals. Due to the complexity of interlinked effects, identifying and addressing these conflicts requires interdisciplinary collaboration. The aim of this paper is to propose sustainability risks of raw material supply as an innovative topic, explored from four different perspectives: (1) geo- and environmental science, 2) engineering, (3) economics and social science, and (4) material science, informed by sustainability science. As a method, we propose a five-step approach towards a comprehensive research agenda. Our approach establishes and builds on a common un-derstanding of materials. As a result, we introduce three material categories, namely (1) fossil energy re-sources, (2) base or mass materials, (3) critical raw materials (step 1) and go through all five steps. Our results enable an extended understanding of sustainability risks of raw materials and resources, informed by relevant disciplinary aspects (step 2), normative insights from sustainability science (step3), and guiding questions for an expert assessment of blind spots and links to other disciplines and knowledge types (step 4). We discuss future research directions (step 5) and the need for accompanying research. In conclusion, an interdisciplinary approach is essential to understand sustainability risks of materials and resources and enable science to contribute meaningfully and help guide efforts to combat current socio-ecological crises.

Keywords critical minerals, sustainable development, transition risks, supply risk, industrial transformation, energy transition