A Systematic Literature Review of Existing Methods and Tools for the Criticality Assessment of Raw Materials: A Focus on the Relations between the Concepts of Criticality and Environmental Sustainability

Daniele Perossa (), Paolo Rosa and Sergio Terzi
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Daniele Perossa: Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy
Paolo Rosa: Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy
Sergio Terzi: Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy

Resources, 2024, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: Critical raw materials have significant economic and social impacts across numerous sectors. Numerous artifacts have been developed to assess their criticality. However, there is no univocity around the factors determining criticality. A systematic literature review was conducted to consider all academic works and official reports on criticality assessment. The review aimed to classify these artifacts to provide a clear picture of the heterogenous literature, with a focus on the relationship between criticality and environmental sustainability. Works proposing or updating criticality assessment artifacts were included according to the eligibility criteria. Academic sources were drawn from the Scopus Database in 2023. Official reports included those considered seminal by academic literature. The risk of bias in the selection and classification of the 162 works was low, as the review sought to be comprehensive. The included artifacts are systematically classified. A mapping of the identified criticality assessment tools and methods has been developed. The review found that while environmental impacts are considered in several works, the theoretical connection between criticality and environmental sustainability is weak. Three perspectives on this relationship are identified and discussed. The main limitation of this study is the inability to analyze undisclosed artifacts. It was conducted under the Horizon Europe Programme (Grant Number 101091490).

Keywords: critical raw materials; criticality assessment; environmental sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jresou:v:13:y:2024:i:9:p:131-:d:1480444

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