Emergy-based environmental accounting of China’s nickel production

Abstract

Nickel is deemed as one of the critical metals because it is currently essential in making both stainless steel and lithium-ion batteries. It is therefore critical to evaluate such impacts so that appropriate mitigation measures can be taken. Emergy is an effective evaluation method, which is widely used for environmental accounting. This study applies such an emergy-based method to evaluate nickel production in China so that the holistic environmental performance of nickel production can be examined. Typical products are chosen for different processes by considering both quantity and the development potential. Results show that nickel production is unsustainable and the associated environmental costs are not fully covered in the nickel prices. In addition, we find that environmental loading from nickel recycling is less than that from primary nickel production. Several policy recommendations are then raised based upon these results to facilitate sustainable nickel management in China.

Keywords

• Nickel
• Emergy analysis
• Sustainability
• Recycling
• Circular economy
• China