Title: Potential Supply Risks in the Global Supply Chain for Key Lithium Battery Materials

Lecturer: Xin Sun, Assistant Professor, University of Groningen

Time: October 23, 2024 (Wednesday) 14:00-16:00 pm

Venue: School of Business 206

Organizer: Department of Management Science and Engineering

Synopsis:

  As a vital energy storage device for transportation electrification and renewable energy supply, lithium batteries represent one of the most critical clean energy technologies for the transition to a low-carbon society. However, their growing manufacturing and usage will trigger a surge in demand for key materials such as lithium, cobalt, and manganese, posing a series of sustainability challenges. Against this backdrop, this study first employs a trade network-coupled material flow analysis method to trace the global socio-ecological metabolism of lithium battery key materials. Further, it employs criticality assessment, complex network analysis, system dynamics, and life cycle assessment to evaluate potential supply risks and environmental impacts across the global supply chain of these materials. The study aims to address sustainability challenges in lithium battery materials by coordinating economic, environmental, and social dimensions of the “energy-materials” nexus, thereby charting sustainable pathways for clean energy technologies.

Introduction to the Lecturer:

  Assistant Professor at the Institute for Energy and Sustainability, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen. Former Schmidt AI Fellow at Cornell University and Visiting Scholar at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and dual bachelor's degrees in Vehicle Engineering and Business Administration from Tsinghua University. Primary research focuses on energy materials sustainability. Authored over forty papers in journals including Nature Sustainability and Joule. His research findings have been utilized in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, by the European Parliament, the British Geological Survey, and Australia's Department of Industry. He received Tsinghua University's Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, the Qian Yi Environmental Award Grand Prize, and the inaugural Global Change Future Scholar Award. He currently serves as a Young Editorial Board Member for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and as a Young Council Member for the Chinese Society for Environment, Ecology and Sustainable Development in Europe (CESEES).