UN warns rare metal shortage could derail clean tech boom
Failure to improve recycling rates of metals such as lithium and gallium could leave them "essentially unavailable" for use in solar panels, electric cars and other clean technologies
BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 14 May 2010
The UN yesterday issued a stark warning that the adoption of low carbon technologies such as solar panels, electric cars and energy efficient lights could stall unless the recycling rates for "speciality metals" used by the electronics industry drastically increases.
Metals such as lithium, neodymium and gallium all play crucial roles in the development of many clean technologies. But according to a new preliminary report from the UN's International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, recycling rates for these metals currently stand at around one per cent.
It warns that currently recycling policies are failing to stop huge quantities of valuable metals being lost each year when the electronic equipment that also makes use of "speciality metals" is disposed of.
The report, Metals Recycling Rates, argues that unless recycling rates for rare earth metals are significantly increased they could become " essentially unavailable for use in modern technology".
The scarcity of metals such as lithium and gallium is already impacting a number of clean tech sectors by driving up component prices for manufacturers of photovoltaic solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and fuel cells.
The report, the final version of which is due to be released later this year, also argues that improving recycling rates for more common metals such as iron, steel, copper, aluminium, lead and tin could save millions or even billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions because recycling metals is between two and ten times more energy efficient than extracting new metal.
Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Program, said that " urgent action" was now required to ensure secure and sustainable supplies of rare metals that will play a "crucial role in the future health, penetration and competitiveness of a modern high-tech, resource-efficient Green Economy".
"Boosting end-of-life recycling rates not only offers a path to enhancing those supplies and keeping metal prices down, but can also generate new kinds of employment while ensuring the longevity of the mines and the stocks found in nature," he added.
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