Sustainability, Criticality, and Circularity in PV: Using SDG 12 as a Lens to Map Sectoral Gaps

Multiple activities in the photovoltaic (PV) sector demonstrate a will to improve environmental impacts, reduce critical material uses and waste generated by linear supply chains. A common understanding of the remaining priority gaps in sustainability is, however, lacking, hindering the implementation of strategic courses of action. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12), targeting sustainable consumption and production, constitutes an entry point for PV stakeholders to examine their impacts holistically by reconciling ecological sustainability, criticality, and circularity. This article introduces a framework to map sustainability strategies in PV under the lens of SDG 12. A gap analysis is conducted to identify the current sustainability performances of PV value chains. The readiness level of the sector to close each gap is then evaluated, thus highlighting the “low hanging fruits” and the more consequent efforts required to achieve sustainability. Overall, a lack of common key performance indicators is noticed, resulting in a fragmented and uncertain sustainability landscape. A need for more coherence, sustainability leadership, and collaboration at the sectoral level is identified for all topics of SDG 12. In particular, the implementation of circularity strategies is linked to substantial technoeconomic hurdles, which need to be addressed.