Third Party Funds Group - Overall project
Acronym: DKN Critical Minerals
Start date : 01.01.2025
End date : 31.12.2026
Website: https://www.dkn-future-earth.org/activities/working_groups/116123/index.php.en
Decarbonisation and digitalisation are driving an increasing demand for
critical raw materials worldwide, leading to the expansion of existing
deposits and the development of new ones. Every mining project has
complex sustainability impacts in ecological, social and economic terms.
However, the actual impact of raw material extraction depends on
various site-specific factors. These include the geological
characteristics of the deposits, the affected social and ecological
systems, as well as the socio-technical and regulatory framework
conditions that channel the type of mining. To date, there has been no
comprehensive and interdisciplinary assessment of the different
sustainability impacts and the site-specific factors that influence
them. Furthermore, the question of how current geopolitical processes
influence the demand and sustainability governance of mining projects
has been little researched. This interdisciplinary research project
fills these gaps with the help of an integrative review by developing a
comprehensive categorisation of sustainability impacts and the various
influencing factors. The aim of the project is to develop a standardised
analysis scheme that enables a qualitative comparison of different
mining projects in terms of their sustainability impacts. This system
should also identify relevant research gaps and thus serve as a basis
for the development of a research agenda for future joint research
projects.
The working group will address the following research questions, among others:
➢
How does the interplay of resource demand, geological framework
conditions, socio-technical factors and socio-ecological site
characteristics affect the ecological, social and economic effects of
mining projects, and how can these effects be categorised?
➢ How do these factors influence the site-specific sustainability impacts of mining projects and how can these be minimised?
Over
the next two years, the working group will organise a series of virtual
and face-to-face meetings and a roundtable discussion with
international partners. During this time, an interdisciplinary review of
the above-mentioned topic will be compiled from various perspectives.
The review will be used as a basis for subsequent research proposals.