IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v48y2016icp13-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How to evaluate raw material vulnerability - An overview

Author

Listed:
  • Helbig, Christoph
  • Wietschel, Lars
  • Thorenz, Andrea
  • Tuma, Axel

Abstract

Companies, economies and technologies are vulnerable to supply disruptions or price peaks of specific raw materials. Multiple research groups worldwide have proposed methodologies for determining the criticality of raw materials, including assessments on the vulnerability to supply restrictions. These raw material vulnerability assessments use manifold indicators but are not consistent concerning their selection, calculation, interpretation and weighting. Their indicators estimate a raw material’s economic importance or its significance for a strategic goal, or they inform regarding the impact of supply disruptions. Here, we provide an overview of 18 vulnerability assessments in 16 recent criticality studies. Our results reveal 18 different vulnerability indicators, among which a set of six indicators is frequently used and therefore might be recommended for decision makers. The range of possible vulnerability assessment results is exemplified by evaluations of the transition metal copper and the rare earth neodymium. Our overview can serve as a starting point for future raw material criticality assessments concerning the selection of vulnerability indicators and appropriate calculation and weighting methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Helbig, Christoph & Wietschel, Lars & Thorenz, Andrea & Tuma, Axel, 2016. "How to evaluate raw material vulnerability - An overview," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 13-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:48:y:2016:i:c:p:13-24
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.02.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420716300083
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.02.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glöser, Simon & Tercero Espinoza, Luis & Gandenberger, Carsten & Faulstich, Martin, 2015. "Raw material criticality in the context of classical risk assessment," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 35-46.
    2. Roelich, Katy & Dawson, David A. & Purnell, Phil & Knoeri, Christof & Revell, Ruairi & Busch, Jonathan & Steinberger, Julia K., 2014. "Assessing the dynamic material criticality of infrastructure transitions: A case of low carbon electricity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 378-386.
    3. E. M. Harper & Goksin Kavlak & Lara Burmeister & Matthew J. Eckelman & Serkan Erbis & Vicente Sebastian Espinoza & Philip Nuss & T. E. Graedel, 2015. "Criticality of the Geological Zinc, Tin, and Lead Family," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(4), pages 628-644, August.
    4. N.T. Nassar & Xiaoyue Du & T.E. Graedel, 2015. "Criticality of the Rare Earth Elements," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(6), pages 1044-1054, December.
    5. Beylot, Antoine & Villeneuve, Jacques, 2015. "Assessing the national economic importance of metals: An Input–Output approach to the case of copper in France," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 161-165.
    6. Achzet, Benjamin & Helbig, Christoph, 2013. "How to evaluate raw material supply risks—an overview," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 435-447.
    7. Goe, Michele & Gaustad, Gabrielle, 2014. "Identifying critical materials for photovoltaics in the US: A multi-metric approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 387-396.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dewulf, Jo & Blengini, Gian Andrea & Pennington, David & Nuss, Philip & Nassar, Nedal T., 2016. "Criticality on the international scene: Quo vadis?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 169-176.
    2. Helbig, Christoph & Bradshaw, Alex M. & Kolotzek, Christoph & Thorenz, Andrea & Tuma, Axel, 2016. "Supply risks associated with CdTe and CIGS thin-film photovoltaics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 422-433.
    3. Luca Ciacci & Philip Nuss & Barbara K. Reck & T. T. Werner & T. E. Graedel, 2016. "Metal Criticality Determination for Australia, the US, and the Planet—Comparing 2008 and 2012 Results," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-8, September.
    4. Hache, Emmanuel & Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Simoen, Marine & Bonnet, Clément & Carcanague, Samuel, 2019. "Critical raw materials and transportation sector electrification: A detailed bottom-up analysis in world transport," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 6-25.
    5. Benjamin C. McLellan & Eiji Yamasue & Tetsuo Tezuka & Glen Corder & Artem Golev & Damien Giurco, 2016. "Critical Minerals and Energy–Impacts and Limitations of Moving to Unconventional Resources," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-40, May.
    6. Aiman Fadil & Paul Davis & John Geraghty, 2023. "A Mixed-Method Approach to Determine the Successful Factors Affecting the Criticality Level of Intermediate and Final Products on National Basis: A Case Study from Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-29, March.
    7. Simon Glöser-Chahoud & Luis Tercero Espinoza & Rainer Walz & Martin Faulstich, 2016. "Taking the Step towards a More Dynamic View on Raw Material Criticality: An Indicator Based Analysis for Germany and Japan," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Teixeira, Bernardo & Brito, Miguel Centeno & Mateus, António, 2024. "Raw materials for the Portuguese decarbonization roadmap: The case of solar photovoltaics and wind energy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    9. Glöser, Simon & Tercero Espinoza, Luis & Gandenberger, Carsten & Faulstich, Martin, 2015. "Raw material criticality in the context of classical risk assessment," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 35-46.
    10. Salim, Hengky & Sahin, Oz & Elsawah, Sondoss & Turan, Hasan & Stewart, Rodney A., 2022. "A critical review on tackling complex rare earth supply security problem," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    11. Blengini, Gian Andrea & Nuss, Philip & Dewulf, Jo & Nita, Viorel & Peirò, Laura Talens & Vidal-Legaz, Beatriz & Latunussa, Cynthia & Mancini, Lucia & Blagoeva, Darina & Pennington, David & Pellegrini,, 2017. "EU methodology for critical raw materials assessment: Policy needs and proposed solutions for incremental improvements," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 12-19.
    12. Pell, Robert S. & Wall, Frances & Yan, Xiaoyu & Bailey, Gwendolyn, 2019. "Applying and advancing the economic resource scarcity potential (ESP) method for rare earth elements," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 472-481.
    13. Yu, Shiwei & Duan, Haoran & Cheng, Jinhua, 2021. "An evaluation of the supply risk for China's strategic metallic mineral resources," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. Gondia Sokhna Seck & Emmanuel Hache & Clement Bonnet & Marine Simoën & Samuel Carcanague, 2020. "Copper at the crossroads : Assessment of the interactions between low-carbon energy transition and supply limitations," Post-Print hal-03118509, HAL.
    15. A. Mateus & C. Lopes & L. Martins & J. Carvalho, 2017. "Towards a multi-dimensional methodology supporting a safeguarding decision on the future access to mineral resources," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 30(3), pages 229-255, October.
    16. Kim, Juhan & Lee, Jungbae & Kim, BumChoong & Kim, Jinsoo, 2019. "Raw material criticality assessment with weighted indicators: An application of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 225-233.
    17. Hu, Xueyue & Wang, Chunying & Elshkaki, Ayman, 2024. "Material-energy Nexus: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    18. Le Boulzec, Hugo & Delannoy, Louis & Andrieu, Baptiste & Verzier, François & Vidal, Olivier & Mathy, Sandrine, 2022. "Dynamic modeling of global fossil fuel infrastructure and materials needs: Overcoming a lack of available data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    19. Clement Bonnet & Samuel Carcanague & Emmanuel Hache & Gondia Seck & Marine Simoën, 2019. "Vers une Géopolitique de l'énergie plus complexe ? Une analyse prospective tridimensionnelle de la transition énergétique," Working Papers hal-02971706, HAL.
    20. Elshkaki, Ayman & Graedel, T.E., 2015. "Solar cell metals and their hosts: A tale of oversupply and undersupply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 167-177.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:48:y:2016:i:c:p:13-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.