^{Challenge 1:}
Securing the supply
of critical materials

91% of engineering decision makers in our survey considered the supply of critical materials a risk to their sustainability plans, with 10% calling it a major risk.

This can cover a variety of materials, from the rare earth metals needed for batteries and wind turbines, to biomass for sustainable plastics, to high purity graphene for lightweight composites. The IEA forecasts that rare earth metals demand could double by 2040, exceeding supply that can be met through mining^[1], biomass^[2] and graphene^[3]. Many other transition materials face similar challenges.

Search for new sustainable materials, and redesign components to be less reliant on unsustainable materials. Embrace internal design programs, or external partnerships, to proactively discover new molecules and materials, or component designs, which deliver the desired product functionality whilst meeting sustainability goals.

Toyota is developing a new type of magnet for its EV motors, which reduces reliance on neodymium, one of the most costly and constrained rare earth metals. By incorporating more abundant and less expensive elements like lanthanum and cerium, Toyota is reducing the environmental impact associated with rare earth mining, and protecting itself from supply chain risks.
Make products modular and upgradable, so that when something fails, only the broken bit must be thrown away and the rest can continue its life – reducing your overall materials needs.

Securing
critical materials: The solutions being explored

These complex challenges may require strategic reinvention of supply chains and/or product design to manage reliance on scarce materials. There are a number of things that companies should consider:

Embrace circular economy principles, replacing virgin mined materials with those that were recycled or made with clean energy, and which can themselves be reused and recycled at end of life. Often this starts with an exercise to define your current setup, so you can make informed decisions. This often leads to discussions about mitigating issues related to a product's materials by using high-quality recycled content or materials. Our Resource Awareness and Circular Economy Strategy (RACES) approach offers a rigorous framework to assess materials for criticality and sustainability, and create a prioritized plan to identify circular alternatives.

Equipment manufacturer Valeo has developed a portfolio of 8,000 "remanufactured as new" automotive products – a process which collects end-of-life products, disassembles and cleans them, repairs or replaces degraded parts, reassembles and tests, making them functionally equivalent to new products.

Its portfolio ranges from clutch components to braking systems, and Valeo has recently launched new labs to remanufacture front mounted cameras for assisted driving systems (in collaboration with Stellantis) and electric propulsion parts for EVs.

Around 800 aircraft are retired annually. To help ensure parts are reused or recycled, Capgemini collaborated with AWS to digitize hundreds of thousands of documents that define an aircraft and its parts, with AI delivering time savings of 30% to 50%. This helped streamline the dismantling and recycling of retired aircraft, enabling circular economy principles by ensuring aircraft parts are reused or repurposed where possible.

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Embrace new technologies: At the more ambitious end, keep an eye on what’s on the horizon that could deliver new value. The integration of advanced computing techniques into material discovery and improvement processes is not just a technological advancement.

This development is clear to see in the world of battery technology. As the demand for eco-friendly, cost-effective rechargeable batteries with high energy density grows, and the need for innovative solutions becomes more pressing, battery researchers are turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to drive advances.

The collaboration between Capgemini and the Technical University of Munich (TUM)^[4] exemplifies this trend. By leveraging AI to optimize the design of lithium-ion batteries, this partnership aims to enhance performance, reduce costs, and improve safety. The use of AI-based parameter simulation allows for a more precise modeling of electrochemical-thermal couplings, identification of optimal materials, and minimization of material usage, ultimately leading to superior battery cell designs.

Deploy lifetime management infrastructure by providing the capabilities for lifetime repairs and upgrades, and dedicated processes and technologies for managing end of life – salvaging materials that have value, and responsibly disposing of anything that doesn’t.
Use product lifecycle management software to assess product lifetime emissions and inform the transition decisions above. This has traditionally been a long, arduous process, but AI is transforming the area. For example, Capgemini is working with Makersite, whose AI models perform lifecycle assessments up to 50x faster than traditional methods. We still need to ensure the supply chain and enterprise systems that feed in the data are set up correctly, but the technology removes a lot of manual and highly time consuming effort.

Apple is embracing lifetime management through a network of authorized service providers worldwide that offer professional repairs, and a recycling program that uses specialized robots to disassemble devices to recover valuable materials.

Quantum computing offers a unique advantage in the understanding of molecular interactions within electrolyte chemistry, which are crucial for battery performance and stability. The Q-ACES project spearheaded by Capgemini^[5] highlights how the potential of quantum computing is being used to unlock new opportunities in energy storage. By focusing on key sub-components and combining quantum calculations with data-driven modeling, the Q-ACES project aims to overcome the limitations of traditional battery research and unlock new levels of efficiency and performance.