Intertemporal Allocation of Recycling for Long-Lived Materials from Energy Infrastructure

Mario Schmidt () and Pia Heidak
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Mario Schmidt: Institute for Industrial Ecology (INEC), Pforzheim University, 75175 Pforzheim, Germany
Pia Heidak: Institute for Industrial Ecology (INEC), Pforzheim University, 75175 Pforzheim, Germany

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-17

Abstract: Energy conversion and infrastructure facilities consist of large amounts of metal and have lifetimes of several decades. When recycling metals, the methods of allocation play a decisive role in evaluating how primary and secondary materials, as well as the products that are produced with them, are to be evaluated ecologically. So-called credits for recycling are the subject of a particularly controversial discussion. This article shows that the current practice of giving credits for long-lasting products leads to a significant distortion of the actual emissions. Using the examples of steel, aluminum, and copper, prospective LCA data is used to show how the carbon footprint actually behaves. When credits are applied, the time dependency of emissions must be taken into account; otherwise, burden shifting into the future occurs, which can hardly be considered sustainable. The increase compared to the conventional time-independent practice lies, depending on the metal, at 70 to 300%. It is recommended that the cutoff approach be used conservatively when allocating recycling cascades in order to optimize environmental impact and avoid greenwashing.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; carbon footprint; allocation; recycling; substitution; circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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