PhD defence
Material demand for key infrastructures in emerging energy and digital technologies under the low-carbon transition: estimation and sustainability challenges
- Z. Chen
- Date
- Wednesday 14 January 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Supervisor(s)
Summary
The global shift toward cleaner energy and rapidly expanding digital technologies is transforming how modern societies operate. Solar and wind power, electric and hydrogen vehicles, green hydrogen production, and data centers are being deployed at unprecedented speed. While these systems are essential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling digital services, they also depend on large amounts of metals and minerals, such as copper, nickel, rare earth elements, and platinum-group metals, with the production of these materials carrying its own environmental impacts.
This thesis investigates how much of these materials will be needed in the coming decades and what sustainability challenges may arise. Using future scenario modeling, dynamic material flow analysis, and life-cycle assessment, the thesis examines four key infrastructure domains: electricity networks, low-carbon transport, electrolyzers for green hydrogen, and data centers. The results show that demand for several critical materials could rise far faster than today’s supply, especially for metals like copper, nickel, and iridium. At the same time, producing these materials generates significant environmental burdens, meaning that rapid deployment could shift climate and ecological pressures from energy use to material extraction and processing.
The findings highlight that recycling and reuse, while important, cannot expand quickly enough to fully relieve short-term supply and environmental pressures. Instead, smarter technology design, longer product lifetimes, material-efficient engineering, and coordinated policy planning will be essential.
By linking future material demand with environmental impacts across both energy and digital systems, this thesis offers an integrated view that is crucial for achieving deep and lasting emission reductions. Understanding and addressing the resource requirements and constraints that accompany the low-carbon and digital transition will be essential to realizing climate ambitions and ensuring a truly sustainable transformation. In doing so, the research provides a foundation for governments, companies, and society to align technology deployment strategies with responsible resource planning and long-term sustainability goals.
PhD dissertations
Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.
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