The transition to a low-carbon economy will be material-intensive. Production of these materials (from mining to manufacturing) incurs environmental costs that vary widely, depending on the geology, mineralogy, extraction routes, type of product, purity of product, background system or manufacturing infrastructure. Understanding the impacts of the raw materials underpinning the low-carbon economy is essential for eliminating any dissonance between the benefits of renewable technologies and the impacts associated with the production of the raw materials. In this Review, we propose an integrated life cycle assessment and geometallurgical approach to optimize the technical performance and reduce the environmental impact of raw material extraction. Life cycle assessments are an effective way of understanding the system-wide impacts associated with material production, from ore in the ground to a refined chemical product ready to be used in advanced technologies such as batteries. In the geometallurgy approach, geologists select exploration targets with resource characteristics that lend themselves to lower environmental impacts, often considering factors throughout the exploration and development process. Combining these two approaches allows for more accurate and dynamic optimization of technology materials resource efficiency, based on in situ ore properties and process simulations. By applying these approaches at the development phase of projects, a future low-carbon economy can be achieved that is built from ingredients with a lower environmental impact.

The search for alternative fuels to alleviate our dependency on fossil-based transport fuels is driven by depleting conventional oil resources and looming climate change induced by anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Through a lifecycle approach, we evaluate whether algal biodiesel production can be a viable fuel source once the energy and carbon intensity of the process is managed accordingly. Currently, algae biodiesel production is 2.5 times as energy intensive as conventional diesel and nearly equivalent to the high fuel-cycle energy use of oil shale diesel. Biodiesel from advanced biomass can realise its inherent environmental advantages of GHG emissions reduction once every step of the production chain is fully optimized and decarbonised. This includes smart co-product utilization, decarbonisation of the electricity and heat grids as well as indirect energy requirements for fertilizer, transport and building material. Only if all these factors are taken into account is the cost of heat and electricity reduced, and GHG emissions fully mitigated.