Unequal Technologies: The case of minerals and (raw) materials in solar power.

In order to mitigate climate change, an energy transition is inevitable. In this paper, we argue that this energy transition needs to break with historically developed structures of production and consumption in order to be truly sustainable, equitable and just.
Since renewable energy systems are an important part of the energy transition, and the biggest estimated installed capacity is solar photovoltaic (8500 GW by 2050), we focus on PVs.
The building of ETIs as photovoltaic needs numerous raw materials. Recent reviews have assessed the minerals and materials needed for PVs under different mitigation scenarios (Wang et al., 2023) as listed here: Steel, Aluminium, Indium, Copper, Solar-grade Polysilicon, Selenium, Nickel, Cadmium, Tellerium, Silver, Gallium, Chronium, Tin, Germanium, Lead, and Zinc. Generally, the maximal annual demand is estimated to strongly increase compared with current production (e.g. Tellerium 372.4%).
Part of the literature discusses also the secure and responsible supply of the needed materials and recognises the rising questions of international equity and environmental justice (Sovacool et al, 2020). However, an analysis which merges technical and social knowledge applied specifically to the materials required for a selected technology seems missing in the literature. We focus on an added layer of complexity including considerations from the social sciences like equity and justice in order to suggest possible solutions.
The theory of Ecologically Unequal Exchange (Dorninger et al, 2021) draws attention to the inequalities inherent in global trade. PV panels, for instance, are seen as a clean energy technology. Yet, they draw on resources from poorer countries, be it labour or land, which is not reflected in the price of these technologies.
Andreas Roos (2023) analyses how the boom of solar technology has led to an appropriation of resources from China. This appropriation has allowed for significantly lower production costs as well as very low resource consumption in Europe itself.
If we look into the three dimensions of justice – procedural justice, recognition, and distributional justice - the production of solar technology relates directly to these aspects. Procedural injustices are inherent in the unequal structures of world trade, which have shaped processes that exploit natural resources and labour at the expense of poorer countries. This also means that, in terms of distributional justice, the benefits generated by these global processes are distributed unequally. In terms of recognition, the inequality aspects of for instance solar technology are not being recognized. Instead, these aspects are obscured by the clean image of solar technology.
The production and consumption of goods such as PV panels are deeply embedded in social structures. This means that there are many obstacles on the way towards truly sustainable energy systems. Looking at the example of solar technology, it will only become sustainable if it breaks particularly with the structures of global trade. On the consumption side, overconsumption of energy and goods will have to be addressed in order to transition towards sustainability. One possible solution could be suggested by the concept of sufficiency.

References
Dorninger, C. et al. (2021). Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange: Implications for sustainability in the 21st century. Ecological Economics 179, 1-14
Roos, A. (2023) Author’s note: Solar technology and global environmental justice: The vision and the reality.
Sovacool, B.K. et al. (2020). Sustainable minerals and metals for a low-carbon future. Science; 367(80):30–3.
Wang, S. et al. (2023). Future demand for electricity generation materials under different climate mitigation scenarios. Joule, 7(2), 309-332.