Identification and ESG Risk Evaluation of Global Rare Earth Element Resources
A Sustainability Outlook on Strategic Rare Earth Autonomy for Europe
L.F.D. Heugen (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
René Kleijn – Graduation committee member (Universiteit Leiden)
Willem L. Auping – Mentor (TU Delft - Policy Analysis)
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Abstract
Rare earth elements (REEs) are an increasingly critical component of the global economy, and their strategic importance cannot be overstated. However, production across most stages of the value chain is heavily concentrated in China, particularly for the rarer “heavy” REEs such as dysprosium and terbium. These two elements, along with certain light REEs, are essential for the manufacture of permanent magnets for advanced technologies. At the same time, extraction of REEs involves significant risks to natural and human environments due to land use change, toxic and radiative pollution and social disruption. For the European Union (EU), these issues are recognised and addressed through the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and the Horizon Europe ‘REEsilience project’. However, scientific contributions addressing these issues simultaneously, especially from a European perspective, are limited. Previous research includes regional or global REE resource mapping, discussing general risks or impacts associated with REE mining and refining, and applying spatial risk analysis frameworks not tailored to REE specifically. To help fill this precise gap in research, the objective of this thesis is to combine the identification of global REE resources with their evaluation in terms of sustainability, using an ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) risk assessment framework. This is done by addressing three research questions that guide the structure of this work: (1) What does the global distribution of REE resources look like; (2) how do these deposits and regions compare in terms of ESG risk; and (3) which deposits appear most attractive when considering both ESG risk and EU strategic autonomy, alongside other relevant attributes? While the importance of the latter (such as deposit type, ore grade, development stage, and individual REE proportions) is acknowledged in determining the feasibility of exploitation, the primary focus of this thesis lies on the ESG risks...