Hotspots of Mining-Related Biodiversity Loss in Global Supply Chains and the Potential for Reduction through Renewable Electricity

Anticipated infrastructure growth and energy transition
may exacerbate
biodiversity loss through increased demand for mining products. This
study uses an enhanced multiregional input–output database
(REX, Resolved EXIOBASE) and supply chain impact mapping (SCIM) method
to assess global biodiversity loss associated with mining-related
land use. We identify hotspots in the supply chain of mining products,
compare the impact of fossil and renewable electricity, and estimate
the share of mining in total global impacts. We found that half of
the global mining-related biodiversity loss occurs in Indonesia, Australia,
and New Caledonia. Major international trade flows of embodied biodiversity
loss involve Indonesia’s coal exports to China and India, New
Caledonia’s nickel exports to Japan and Australia, and Australia’s
iron and bauxite exports to China. Key end-consumers include China’s
growing infrastructure and the EU’s and USA’s household
consumption. Electricity generation accounted for 10% of global mining-related
biodiversity loss in 2014. The impact of coal-fired electricity was
10 times higher than that of renewables per unit of electricity generated.
Globally, mining contributes to less than 1% of the total land use-related
biodiversity loss, which is dominated by agriculture. Our results
provide transparency in sourcing more sustainable mining products
and underline synergies in fostering renewables to meet local biodiversity
and global climate targets.