Lehtimäki et al. (2024). Sustainability of the use of critical raw materials in electric vehicle batteries: A transdisciplinary view.

Summary: We present a literature review to examine sustainability in the use of critical materials in electric vehicle batteries. We present a holistic review of social sciences, materials science, environmental policy, and innovation management literatures. We explicate the wickedness and complex causalities involved in the sustainability of electric mobility. We discuss sustainability tensions related to 1) resource suffciency, 2) geographical distribution and global value chains, 3) regulation and policies, 4) circular economy, and 5) emerging battery technologies. This paper discusses circular economy as one aspect of the interwoven complexity in global value chain of raw materials for electric mobility.

Usefulness of the results: Our study provides valuable insights for policy making and suggests that the sustainability framework presented in this paper is used in evaluating the suffciency of policy measures in regional and national governance on the use of CRMs in electric mobility.

Authors: Hanna Lehtimäki, University of Eastern Finland; Marjaana Karhu, VTT; Juha M. Kotilainen, University of Eastern Finland; Rauno Sairinen, University of Eastern Finland; Ari Jokilaakso, Aalto University; Ulla Lassi, University of Oulu; Elina Huttunen-Saarivirta, VTT

Publishing date: 21.6.2024

Format of the publication: Scientific Article

Publishing platform: Environmental Challenges (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2024.100966)

More information: hanna.lehtimäki@uef.fi