Sustainable Materials Transition

Pushing the dial – From an Energy Transition to a Materials Transition

The way we use materials in our daily lives defines modern civilization. Right from using fossil fuels for our energy requirements to construction materials for building our houses and innumerable other material end uses – we consider the consumption of materials as innate to the idea of human progress. Our insatiable appetite for raw materials has far-reaching consequences for our planet that has finite resources. At the current rate of consumption and population growth, we will need the equivalent of three Earths' to provide the natural resources that can sustain current lifestyles by 2050. Considering this, it is astonishing that we have still not found the social and political consensus to radically change the course of modern civilization and embark on the pathway towards a Materials Transition.

“Materials Transition is the process through which we account for, and seek to minimize, the costs of extracting and disposing of raw materials consumed in the global economy.” – Wood MacKenzie, 2020.

The primary source of all materials that we use is mining. While mining provides materials essential to our survival, it is also one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and forests. Thus, in turn, endangering our very existence. In the last few decades, the largest proportion of diverted forest land has been for mining projects.

Using the Ecoparadigms Tool, one can visualize the threat that mining – legal and illegal – poses to our forests and biodiversity. If we select construction and infrastructure sectors on the tool, we can see numerous granite mines inside and around the periphery of the protected areas in the Western Ghats of India in Kerala (see below). We can also analyze the effect of these mines on the species and water resources of the region.

How do we reduce the impacts of our extraction and consumption-driven economy and still maintain a pathway towards human progress? The challenges are formidable but the transition of the energy sector from fossil fuels to renewable energy shows us that systemic change is possible.

Social awareness through transparency, regulatory interventions, and technological innovation can be drivers of this change. Investment only in technical solutions will not solve our materials problem. Research shows us that to meet all our energy needs through renewables like solar and wind, the world would need raw materials far over what is available. We will have to increasingly put into practice concepts such as Circular Economy that could reduce our overall need for raw materials. The increasing use of these principles in the electronic and construction sectors of our economy points towards a pathway forward.