The anthropogenic stock extended abiotic depletion potential (AADP) as a new parameterisation to model the depletion of abiotic resources

Purpose  

Raw material availability is a cause of concern for many industrial sectors. When addressing resource consumption in life cycle assessment (LCA), current characterisation models for depletion of abiotic resources provide characterisation factors based on (surplus) energy, exergy, or extraction–reserve ratios. However, all indicators presently available share a shortcoming as they neglect the fact that large amounts of raw materials can be stored in material cycles within the technosphere. These “anthropogenic stocks” represent a significant source and can change the material availability significantly. With new characterisation factors, resource consumption in LCA will be assessed by taking into account anthropogenic material stocks in addition to the lithospheric stocks. With these characterisation factors, the scarcity of resources should be reflected more realistically.