TY - JOUR
T1 - Trends in Japanese households' critical-metals material footprints
AU - Shigetomi, Yosuke
AU - Nansai, Keisuke
AU - Kagawa, Shigemi
AU - Tohno, Susumu
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (No. 26241031 ), JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (No. 25281065 and No. 24360210 ) and JSPS Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (No. 26・4971 ). We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers who provided very helpful comments. We are also grateful to Nigel Harle of Gronsveld, the Netherlands, for his critical editing of our English.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015.
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - This study adopts the concept of material footprint (MF), an indicator for consumption-based material extraction via international trade, and identifies the relationship between the MFs of critical metals for low-carbon technologies - neodymium, cobalt, and platinum - and Japanese household consumption through a multiregional input-output approach using the global link input-output model. We focus solely on the impact of changes in consumption patterns caused by demographic change on the structures of the MFs from 2005 to 2035. As a result, the total MFs of neodymium, cobalt, and platinum in 2035 are estimated to be 11%, 6.6% and 4.7% lower than in 2005, respectively. In terms of commodity sectors, the MFs of the three metals induced by "passenger motor cars" are estimated to decrease most between 2005 and 2035. Finally, we carried out an assessment of the extent to which the products dealt with under current Japanese recycling laws cover the MFs calculated for 2035. This indicates that continued enforcement of the recycling laws can play an important role in alerting consumers to the MFs of critical metals, particularly neodymium. For improving the accuracy of the above estimates, further studies need to incorporate other future trends like technologies and trade.
AB - This study adopts the concept of material footprint (MF), an indicator for consumption-based material extraction via international trade, and identifies the relationship between the MFs of critical metals for low-carbon technologies - neodymium, cobalt, and platinum - and Japanese household consumption through a multiregional input-output approach using the global link input-output model. We focus solely on the impact of changes in consumption patterns caused by demographic change on the structures of the MFs from 2005 to 2035. As a result, the total MFs of neodymium, cobalt, and platinum in 2035 are estimated to be 11%, 6.6% and 4.7% lower than in 2005, respectively. In terms of commodity sectors, the MFs of the three metals induced by "passenger motor cars" are estimated to decrease most between 2005 and 2035. Finally, we carried out an assessment of the extent to which the products dealt with under current Japanese recycling laws cover the MFs calculated for 2035. This indicates that continued enforcement of the recycling laws can play an important role in alerting consumers to the MFs of critical metals, particularly neodymium. For improving the accuracy of the above estimates, further studies need to incorporate other future trends like technologies and trade.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.08.010
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.08.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84940865109
SN - 0921-8009
VL - 119
SP - 118
EP - 126
JO - Ecological Economics
JF - Ecological Economics
ER -
