Selected social impact indicators influenced by materials for green energy technologies

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 9336 - 13
• Main Authors: Rahimpour, Saeed, El-Wali, Mohammad, Makarava, Iryna, Tuomisto, Hanna L., Lundström, Mari, Kraslawski, Andrzej
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29.10.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/299; 639/4077/909; 704/844/685; Alternative energy; Aluminum; Child labor; Clean energy; Cobalt; Electric vehicles; Employment; Energy flow; Energy technology; Gallium; Germanium; Green energy; Humanities and Social Sciences; Labor; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle assessment; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Living conditions; Magnesium; multidisciplinary; Nickel; Occupational safety; Panels; Photovoltaics; Rare earth elements; Renewable energy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Silicon; Social impact; Sustainable development; System dynamics; Tellurium; Turbines; Wind power; Wind turbines; Working conditions; Zinc
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53652-0

The social risks of green energy transition are underexplored. One of the important questions is which materials used in green energy technologies offer the greatest social benefits, such as ensuring decent living conditions, and which pose the most social risks. To address this issue, we develop a dynamic material-energy flow model integrating system dynamics, social life cycle assessment, and geometallurgical approaches. The analysis focuses on critical materials: Rare Earth Elements, Nickel, Silicon, Graphite, Magnesium, Gallium, Germanium, Indium, Aluminum, Cobalt, Lithium, Zinc, and Tellurium used in wind turbines, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar photovoltaic panels. We assess their social impact on work safety, gender equality, informal employment, labor income share, employment rate, and child labor—key issues addressed by Sustainable Development Goals 1, 5, and 8. Here we show that Aluminum production for electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels generates the most jobs and income opportunities, while extraction of Cobalt, Lithium, Silicon, and Zinc carry the highest social risks. This study identifies materials used in green energy technologies with the most social benefits and risks. Aluminum production creates the most jobs while cobalt, lithium, silicon and zinc pose the highest risks including child labor and unsafe work conditions.