The geography of mining and its environmental impact in Europe

We map the mining sector in Europe, with a focus on Energy Transition Metals (ETMs), and present an in-depth analysis of the environmental impact and associated monetary costs, at the regional level, of extraction activities. We aim to offer a spatially disaggregated view of the current mining projects and associated environmental costs in terms of CO2 emissions and their monetary value in order to add to the debate of policy interventions, including new mining activities in Europe, to secure the needed materials to fuel the green transition. To do this, we collected global warming potential (GWP) data from Life Cycle Assessment Impact Analysis (LCIA) and linked these to their expected monetary value. By considering the full spectrum of sourced ETMs, we map the environmental, physical, and monetary impact of current mining activities in Europe, and understand what a further increase in exploiting European reserves to reduce dependence from abroad and facilitate the achievement of Europe's green goals, could imply for European regions, while accounting for the uneven distribution of mining resources, and thus associated costs, across Europe.