Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Meeting
future nickel demand for stainless steel and clean energy technologies will
require tough decisions with potential environmental trade-offs, a new study
has found. Dr. Jayden Hyman from The University of Queensland's School of the
Environment led an international analysis of known nickel deposits, current
mining and demand forecasts.
The findings are published in Nature
Ecology & Evolution.
Dr. Hyman said by 2050 about half of
mined nickel supply is likely to come from areas ranked in the top 10% globally
for their importance to biodiversity conservation.
"Nickel is in everything from steel
in infrastructure to the pots and pans in our kitchens, and demand is surging
for clean energy, especially to make batteries for electric vehicles," Dr.
Hyman said.
"But the decisions being made now
about where to source nickel could lock in impacts for decades in some of
Earth's most biodiverse and carbon-rich ecosystems.
"Up to 83% of nickel supply could
come from laterite deposits typically beneath tropical rainforests, but
accessing them requires large-scale clearing—most notably, this is accelerating
in Indonesia.
"Many of these deposits are also
near the coast, and mining them risks polluting nearby waters, including what's
known as the Coral Triangle to Australia's north, which is celebrated as one
of the world's most biodiverse marine regions.
"We have built a model to help plan
for nickel to be sourced responsibly, taking into consideration the ecological
importance of land and ocean regions.
"This framework helps us understand
and model different scenarios as well as the trade-offs that might need to be
made."
The analysis was completed using a
modeling framework developed at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Institute for Sustainable Futures and a nickel dataset curated with researchers
from UQ's Sustainable Minerals Institute.
Dr. Stephen Northey from UTS said it
evaluates how future mine development may occur under different demand
scenarios, such as those developed by the International Energy Agency.
"The model can show how many new
nickel mines will be needed for the energy transition to meet Net Zero
emissions and where these may be located," Dr. Northey said.
The analysis also modeled what would
happen if mining were avoided in areas most important to conserve biodiversity.
It found excluding the top 10% of
environmentally sensitive areas would significantly reduce risks to
biodiversity but could lead to nickel shortfalls of up to 18% of demand by
2050, unless new resources are identified and alternative supplies are developed.
The study found that although recycling
and low-nickel battery technologies were important for reducing the long-term
need for mining, there was a need for new mines in the near term.
Deep-sea deposits could help address the risk of shortfalls in the
absence of new resource discoveries on land, but their economic and
environmental viability required further evaluation.
Dr.
Hyman said it was important to find optimal pathways as a global community.
"This is a call to action to work
together to develop strategies for environmentally responsible mineral supply
so we can build the clean energy future we need," he said.
"With thoughtful planning and a
focus on protecting areas most important for biodiversity and exploring
alternatives, nickel supply can be secured with fewer ecological impacts.
"Requiring stronger sustainability
standards on supply chains that use nickel could tip the balance back towards
more responsible producers that generally have higher costs.
"We have seen low-cost laterite
supply from Indonesia and other tropical locations driving mine closures and
production suspensions in regions like Australia.
"Better transparency about the environmental cost of expanding nickel mining is needed, along with research into alternatives to ensure nickel supply doesn't undermine global biodiversity and climate goals."
Provided by University of
Queensland
Source: Clean energy's nickel rush is heading straight for some of Earth's richest ecosystems
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