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1. Concept

• To create a benchmark for the industry and to measure and communicate the environmental impact of rare earth oxide-containing (REO) products
• To develop the most up-to-date LCI for rare earth production by and for Rare Earth Industry Association members

2. Motivation

• As the world places more and more emphasis on the “green technologies” to address climate change issues and UN sustainable development goals, it is increasingly important to understand the life cycles of the underlying raw materials.
• Several Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) studies pointed out that the environmental impacts of REOs production are high in the case of several REO containing products. However, a lot of this data is sourced from literature or estimated so contains a high uncertainty.
• Other aspects – such as sustainability of raw materials supply – can be identified via data collection for a life cycle assessment.

3. REEs

• Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential for the transition towards sustainability. However, rare earths are critical metals with the highest environmental impact.

4. LCI/LCA

LCA is a decision-making tool used to identify environmental burdens and evaluate the potential environmental impacts of goods or services over their life cycle from cradle-to-grave.

LCA has been standardized under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and forms the conceptual basis for a number of management approaches and standards that consider the life cycle impacts of product systems.

5. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)

• The LCI catalogues all the environmental inputs and outputs of a product system. Data has been collected firsthand from measurements and estimates of key activities, or the data has been based on information drawn from interviews with experts, company data, or literature studies.
• For the global LCI on rare earth oxide, specific primary data for the study was provided by member companies of the Rare Earth Industry Association and modeled using GaBi 2018 databases. The dataset includes production from two continents and represents 3 of the 4 possible mineralogical routes of rare earth production.

An excerpt of the complete LCI for ion adsorption route is shown here.

LCIA helps the rare earth industry pinpoint opportunities for improvement within its operations

Final results will be shared with the association members, which will help rare earth industry’s contribution to sustainable development.