Extending the geopolitical supply risk method: material “substitutability” indicators applied to electric vehicles and dental X-ray equipment

Cimprich, Alexander; Karim, Karim S.; Young, Steven B.

doi:10.1007/s11367-017-1418-4

Cited by 33 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Along with their “product‐level importance” factor, Cimprich et al. () further extended the GeoPolRisk method to incorporate “substitutability” of inventory flows as a risk mitigation factor, using semiquantitative indicator values from a study by Graedel, Harper, Nassar, and Reck ().…”

Section: Description Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Substitute performance was rated on an ordinal scale from “exemplary” to “poor.” Although this approach is somewhat subjective, as Cimprich et al. () argue, its validity is supported by interviewing key informants (e.g., product designers and material scientists) who are likely to have relevant knowledge and expertise, and may even be making decisions about actual material substitutions. Moreover, the Graedel et al.…”

Section: Examination Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While these assessments have been conducted on a national, regional, or global level, raw material criticality is also relevant on a product‐level—to inform product design, material selection, and supply‐chain management. There is a growing interest in adapting criticality assessment to a product‐level analysis as a complement to (environmental) LCA (Bach et al., ; Cimprich, Karim, & Young, ; Cimprich et al, ; Gemechu, Helbig, Sonnemann, Thorenz, & Tuma, ; Helbig et al., ; Henßler, Bach, Berger, Finkbeiner, & Ruhland, ; Mancini, Benini, & Sala, ; Schneider et al., ; Sonnemann, Gemechu, Adibi, De Bruille, & Bulle, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, as explained by Cimprich et al. (,b) and Schneider (), connecting criticality assessment to a functional unit —a central concept in LCA—helps inform product‐level design and management decisions. Another useful characteristic of LCA is the capacity to highlight “hotspots” in a product system—that is, specific activities and processes that make large contributions to potential environmental impacts and therefore offer important areas for improving a product's environmental “profile.” In a similar way, product‐level criticality assessment could highlight “critical raw materials” in terms of the likelihood of supply disruptions and the potential (socioeconomic) impact of these disruptions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…() and Cimprich et al. (,b); the Economic Scarcity Potential (ESP) method developed by Schneider et al. (), and the Integrated Method to Assess Resource Efficiency (ESSENZ), which is effectively an extension and update of the ESP method (Bach et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Raw material criticality assessment as a complement to environmental life cycle assessment: Examining methods for product‐level supply risk assessment

Cimprich

Bach

Helbig

et al. 2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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Summary The diversity of raw materials used in modern products, compounded by the risk of supply disruptions—due to uneven geological distribution of resources, along with socioeconomic factors like production concentration and political (in)stability of raw material producing countries—has drawn attention to the subject of raw material “criticality.” In this article, we review the state of the art regarding the integration of criticality assessment, herein termed “product‐level supply risk assessment,” as a complement to environmental life cycle assessment. We describe and compare three methods explicitly developed for this purpose—Geopolitical Supply Risk (GeoPolRisk), Economic Scarcity Potential (ESP), and the Integrated Method to Assess Resource Efficiency (ESSENZ)—based on a set of criteria including considerations of data sources, uncertainties, and other contentious methodological aspects. We test the methods on a case study of a European‐manufactured electric vehicle, and conclude with guidance for appropriate application and interpretation, along with opportunities for further methodological development. Although the GeoPolRisk, ESP, and ESSENZ methods have several limitations, they can be useful for preliminary assessments of the potential impacts of raw material supply risks on a product system (i.e., “outside‐in” impacts) alongside the impacts of a product system on the environment (i.e., “inside‐out” impacts). Care is needed to not overlook critical raw materials used in small amounts but nonetheless important to product functionality. Further methodological development could address regional and firm‐level supply risks, multiple supply‐chain stages, and material recycling, while improving coverage of supply risk characterization factors.

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Section: Description Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Examination Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Raw material criticality assessment as a complement to environmental life cycle assessment: Examining methods for product‐level supply risk assessment

Cimprich

Bach

Helbig

et al. 2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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Mineral resources in life cycle impact assessment—part I: a critical review of existing methods

Sonderegger

Berger

Alvarenga

et al. 2020

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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119

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Purpose The safeguard subject of the Area of Protection "natural Resources," particularly regarding mineral resources, has long been debated. Consequently, a variety of life cycle impact assessment methods based on different concepts are available. The Life Cycle Initiative, hosted by the UN Environment, established an expert task force on "Mineral Resources" to review existing methods (this article) and provide guidance for application-dependent use of the methods and recommendations for further methodological development (Berger et al. in Int J Life Cycle Assess, 2020). Methods Starting in 2017, the task force developed a white paper, which served as its main input to a SETAC Pellston Workshop® in June 2018, in which a sub-group of the task force members developed recommendations for assessing impacts of mineral resource use in LCA. This article, based mainly on the white paper and pre-workshop discussions, presents a thorough review of 27 different life cycle impact assessment methods for mineral resource use in the "natural resources" area of protection. The methods are categorized according to their basic impact mechanisms, described and compared, and assessed against a comprehensive set of criteria.

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Measuring raw-material criticality of product systems through an economic product importance indicator: a case study of battery-electric vehicles

Lütkehaus,

Pade,

Oswald

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose The concept of criticality concerns the probability and the possible impacts of shortages in raw-material supply and is usually applied to regional economies or specific industries. With more and more products being highly dependent on potentially critical raw materials, efforts are being made to also incorporate criticality into the framework of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA). However, there is still some need for methodological development of indicators to measure raw-material criticality in LCSA. Methods We therefore introduce ‘economic product importance’ (EPI) as a novel parameter for the product-specific evaluation of the relevance and significance of a certain raw material for a particular product system. We thereby consider both the actual raw-material flows (life cycle inventories) and the life cycle cost. The EPI thus represents a measure for the material-specific product-system vulnerability (another component being the substitutability). Combining the product-system vulnerability of a specific product system towards a certain raw material with the supply disruption probability of that same raw material then yields the product-system specific overall criticality with regard to that raw material. In order to demonstrate our novel approach, we apply it to a case study on a battery-electric vehicle. Results Since our approach accounts for the actual amounts of raw materials used in a product and relates their total share of costs to the overall costs of the product, no under- or over-estimation of the mere presence of the raw materials with respect to their relevance for the product system occurs. Consequently, raw materials, e.g. rare earth elements, which are regularly rated highly critical, do not necessarily reach higher criticality ranks within our approach, if they are either needed in very small amounts only or if their share in total costs of the respective product system is very low. Accordingly, in our case study on a battery-electric vehicle product system, most rare earth elements are ranked less critical than bulk materials such as copper or aluminium. Conclusion Our EPI approach constitutes a step forward towards a methodology for the raw-material criticality assessment within the LCSA framework, mainly because it allows a product-specific evaluation of product-system vulnerability. Furthermore, it is compatible with common methods for the supply disruption probability calculation — such as GeoPolRisk, ESP or ESSENZ — as well as with available substitutability evaluations. The practicability and usefulness of our approach has been shown by applying it to a battery-electric vehicle.

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Extending the geopolitical supply risk method: material “substitutability” indicators applied to electric vehicles and dental X-ray equipment

Cited by 33 publications

References 37 publications

Raw material criticality assessment as a complement to environmental life cycle assessment: Examining methods for product‐level supply risk assessment

Raw material criticality assessment as a complement to environmental life cycle assessment: Examining methods for product‐level supply risk assessment

Mineral resources in life cycle impact assessment—part I: a critical review of existing methods

Measuring raw-material criticality of product systems through an economic product importance indicator: a case study of battery-electric vehicles

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