Selecting and Prioritizing Material Resources by Criticality Assessments

Helbig, Christoph, Dieuwertje Schrijvers, and Alessandra Hool. 2021. “Selecting and Prioritizing Material Resources by Criticality Assessments.” One Earth 4(3): 339–45 (June 22, 2022).

Material resources each face different levels of risks in terms of supply disruption, vulnerability, and environmental and social impacts. Countries and companies apply criticality assessments to select or prioritize material resources requiring attention and measures to mitigate their associated supply risks. This Primer gives an overview of typical use cases and frequently used indicators in the criticality dimensions supply risk, vulnerability, and social and environmental aspects. We illustrate the basics of criticality assessments by the examples of copper and indium. We also provide practical guidance in conducting a criticality assessment. It is good practice to follow four steps to enable a coherent evaluation: defining the goal and scope, selecting and evaluating indicators, selecting an aggregation approach, and interpreting and communicating the results.