Mineral Resource Constraints for China’s Clean Energy Development under Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Targets: Quantitative Evaluation and Scenario Analysis

Xinyu Luo, Lingying Pan () and Jie Yang
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Xinyu Luo: Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jungong Road 516, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200093, China
Lingying Pan: Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jungong Road 516, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200093, China
Jie Yang: National Energy Conversation Center of China, Beijing 100045, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-21

Abstract: With concerns about global warming and energy security, people are reducing fossil fuel use and turning to clean energy technologies. Mineral resources are used as materials for various energy technologies, and with the development of clean energy technologies, the demand for mineral resources will increase. China is a large country with various mineral resources, but its structural supply problem is severe. For China to reach the targets of carbon peaking before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, they have set specific milestones for developing each clean energy industry; thus, the demand for mineral resources in clean energy will increase. We first summarise the mineral resources supply for China’s development of clean energy technologies. We analyse the demand for various mineral resources in specific clean energy technology sectors under the stated policies scenario and sustainable development scenario through scenario setting. Finally, we combine current domestic mineral resource reserves and overseas import channels to analyse China’s mineral resource supply and demand for developing the clean energy industry. Our results show that the surge in clean energy generation and electric vehicle ownership in China between 2020 and 2050 will lead to a significant increase in demand for mineral resources for these technologies and a shortage in the supply of some mineral resources. In particular, the supply of copper, nickel, cobalt, and lithium will be a severe constraint for clean energy development. We also find that secondary recycling of power battery materials in the electric vehicle sector could alleviate China’s resource constraints. The findings of our study provide a better understanding of the kinds of mineral elements that are in short supply on the path of clean energy development in China under carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets and the future channels that can be used to increase the supply of minerals.

Keywords: clean energy development; mineral resource demand; energy transition; carbon peaking; carbon neutrality (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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