Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Sci Total Environ. 2013 Sep 1;461-462:785-91. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.05.042. Epub 2013 Jun 13.
Minerals and metals are finite resources, and recent evidence suggests that for many, primary production is becoming more difficult and more expensive. Yet these resources are fundamentally important for society--they support many critical services like infrastructure, telecommunications and energy generation. A continued reliance on minerals and metals as service providers in modern society requires dedicated and concerted governance in relation to production, use, reuse and recycling. Lithium provides a good example to explore possible sustainable governance strategies. Lithium is a geochemically scarce metal (being found in a wide range of natural systems, but in low concentrations that are difficult to extract), yet recent studies suggest increasing future demand, particularly to supply the lithium in lithium-ion batteries, which are used in a wide variety of modern personal and commercial technologies. This paper explores interventions for sustainable governance and handling of lithium for two different supply and demand contexts: Australia as a net lithium producer and Switzerland as a net lithium consumer. It focuses particularly on possible nation-specific issues for sustainable governance in these two countries' contexts, and links these to the global lithium supply chain and demand scenarios. The article concludes that innovative business models, like 'servicizing' the lithium value chain, would hold sustainable governance advantages for both producer and consumer countries.
矿物质和金属是有限的资源，最近的证据表明，对于许多资源来说，初级生产变得越来越困难和昂贵。然而，这些资源对社会至关重要——它们支持许多关键服务，如基础设施、电信和能源生产。在现代社会中，继续依赖矿物质和金属作为服务提供商，需要在生产、使用、再利用和回收方面进行专门和协调一致的治理。锂提供了一个很好的例子，可以探索可能的可持续治理策略。锂是一种地球化学上稀缺的金属（在广泛的自然系统中都有发现，但浓度很低，难以提取），但最近的研究表明，未来的需求会增加，特别是供应锂离子电池中的锂，锂离子电池广泛应用于现代个人和商业技术中。本文探讨了在两种不同的供应和需求情况下可持续治理和处理锂的干预措施：作为净锂生产国的澳大利亚和作为净锂消费国的瑞士。它特别关注这两个国家在可持续治理方面可能存在的特定国家问题，并将这些问题与全球锂供应链和需求情景联系起来。文章最后得出结论，创新的商业模式，如“服务化”锂价值链，将为生产者和消费者国家带来可持续治理的优势。
