Dissertation
Securing the Future: Sustainability, Circularity and Resilience in the Supply for Battery and Magnet Materials in the EU
This thesis addresses the importance of a resilient supply of critical raw materials (CRM) for the global energy transition.
- Author
- J.M. Koese
- Date
- 28 June 2026
- Links
- Thesis in Leiden Repository
Technologies enabling this transition, such as solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and electric vehicles (EVs), depend heavily on CRM, including rare earth elements (REEs), lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. While these materials are essential for decarbonization, their extraction and processing pose significant environmental and social challenges. Paradoxically CRM are both a solution to and a driver of ecological harm, illustrating the complexity of sustainable energy transitions. Moreover, CRM markets are highly concentrated, with countries like China dominating mining, refining and manufacturing stages, creating geopolitical vulnerabilities and risks of disruption. Recent global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts, have amplified these concerns, resulting in policies like the European Union’s (EU) Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) to enhance strategic autonomy and resilience. To address these different challenges, increasing supply chain resilience is required. The resilience framework addresses how a supply chain is able to deal with disruptions, not how likely it is these disruptions happen. This thesis argues other aspects, like sustainability, circularity and self-sufficiency, are also relevant in considering resilience of CRM supply. Despite extensive research on these topics, few studies look at these dimensions when considering CRM resilience, since they are not or only partly included in the resilience framework. This thesis fills that gap by exploring how environmental and social sustainability, circular strategies, and self-sufficiency relate to supply chain resilience for battery and rare earth permanent magnet (REPM) materials in the EU. We addressed these aspects by investigating the following research questions: 1: What are the potential social risks in the life cycle of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries and Lithium-Ion Batteries for large-scale energy storage? 2: To what extent can the EU be self-sufficient regarding its CRM demand for E-mobility, now and in the future? 3: How did REPM recycling develop, what are its drivers, and how can recycling contribute to sustainable magnet supply in the future? 4: What are the environmental impacts of circular end-of-life strategies for REPM and what is the effect of these strategies on EU strategic autonomy?