Critical Minerals

The global effort to combat climate change and achieve sustainability has brought critical minerals into sharper focus. These minerals are indispensable for clean energy technologies and industrial innovation, both of which are key to meeting international climate targets. However, unlocking their potential requires addressing the challenges related to their supply and production.

Understanding critical minerals

There is no universally accepted definition or list of critical minerals. The classification varies according to the needs and priorities of policymakers and industries, and often change over time. Generally, minerals are considered critical when they are essential to economic and technological development but face potential supply risks due to e.g.  scarcity, supply concentration, and/or geopolitical factors.

In the context of the energy transition, the importance of certain minerals increases due to their key role in clean technologies. These include copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements, all essential for the production of low-carbon technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles. Demand for these minerals is expected to grow significantly as the global community strives to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. For example, an electric vehicle requires six times more mineral than a conventional car, while an onshore wind turbine needs more than ten times more mineral resources than a gas-fired power plant with a similar capacity factor. This increasing demand for these minerals—and the lack of viable alternatives—underscores the critical role of these materials in the global energy transition.

Many of these minerals (or their production) are concentrated in just a few geographical regions, making their supply chains potentially vulnerable to geopolitical and economic risks (for example, in the form of export restrictions). For instance, China dominates the production of rare earth elements (despite significant rare earth resources in other counties), while the Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to and supplies the majority of the world’s cobalt. These supply chain concentrations may increase the risk of supply disruptions. Moreover, developing alternatives to these minerals is challenging (and may not always be possible), often requiring significant time, investment, and technological advancements.

It is also important to note that the classification of minerals as "critical" is dynamic and has evolved over time, influenced by technological advancements, market demands, geopolitical developments, and political priorities.

The role of critical minerals in sustainability

Critical minerals are integral to building a sustainable world in several key ways:

Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Critical minerals are vital to advancing global efforts to combat shared challenges, particularly in areas related to clean energy, economic growth, and responsible consumption. These minerals enable the development of technologies crucial to achieving a number of the UN SDGs, including those focused on climate change mitigation, responsible industry, and innovation:

• Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6): Enabling reliable water treatment systems through copper-intensive infrastructure.
• Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7): Supporting the access to, and advancement of, mineral-intensive low-carbon energy technologies.
• Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9): Minerals and metals serving as the backbone of industrial development.
• Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12): Promoting recycling to limit waste and reduce resource extraction.

The responsible sourcing and supply of critical minerals are fundamental to realising these, and many more of the SGDs. Ensuring the benefits of mineral extraction reach all stakeholders and minimising negative impacts on people and the environment is essential.

Driving Climate Action: Critical minerals enable the development and scaling of clean energy technologies, which are essential for reducing carbon emissions and transitioning to low-carbon economies. Their supply is directly linked to the ability to scale up the production of these technologies and, ultimately, to meet global climate commitments.

For example, lithium, cobalt, and nickel are essential for manufacturing batteries that can store energy from renewable sources like wind and solar. Copper is key for power infrastructure (e.g. solar panels, wind turbines, electric motors and power cables) which is crucial for efficient transmission of low-carbon electricity. Rare earth elements are used in magnets for wind turbines and electric motors, powering the growth of clean energy systems.

However, securing the availability of these minerals requires careful supply chain management, as disruptions could undermine efforts to decarbonise industries and economies. It is also critical that the mining of these materials is done responsibly to ensure environmental protection, uphold human rights, and mitigate negative social impacts. Unethical or irresponsible mining practices can undermine the benefits of these minerals to society.

Supporting a Just Transition: The concept of a just transition can be applied to two ways to critical minerals: in the context of enabling a just transition and just outcomes for those who are affected by a mining project. Regarding the former, for any transition to a clean energy system to be considered “just”, it is essential that the raw materials used in any clean energy technology is responsibly produced, making responsible practices and standards key tools in ensuring that this is the case.

Regarding the latter link between a just transition and mining, it is important to recognise that the mining industry is concentrated in certain parts of the world, often in lower-income countries where mining may dominate the economy. To ensure a just transition, it is essential to support the capacity of mineral-producing countries, enabling them to benefit from sustainable practices while contributing to global prosperity and environmental well-being. Responsible production of critical minerals can create considerable and long-lasting economic opportunities, particularly in resource-rich developing countries. Adhering to high standards for responsible mining, and ensuring transparent supply chains, are crucial for maximising benefits for local communities. Community engagement, infrastructure initiatives, and capacity-building are all key to ensuring that all stakeholders share in the benefits of mineral extraction.

Enabling a Circular Economy: Metals and minerals are fundamental to modern life—powering clean energy, industry, and digital connectivity. Unlike many materials, metals can be recycled almost indefinitely, making them essential for circular economies where resources are reused rather than discarded.

As the world shifts towards sustainability, critical minerals have become indispensable for clean energy technologies and industrial innovation. By 2040, demand for nickel and cobalt could increase significantly, while copper demand is expected to double by 2050. Meeting these needs responsibly requires reducing waste, increasing material productivity, and regenerating nature.

Circularity is key to managing this demand. Many critical minerals can be recovered from end-of-life products like electric vehicles and wind turbines, reducing reliance on newly mined materials. However, some recycling technologies—such as those for solar panels—are still in early development, limiting large-scale recovery.

The mining industry has long integrated circular principles at the site level—reducing waste and tailings, optimising water use, rehabilitating closed mine sites, and recycling by-products like tyres. These efforts not only reduce environmental impact but also make business sense. However, to achieve true circularity, we must go beyond waste reduction and rethink how metals are produced and used.

There is no circular economy without metals and minerals. But to be truly circular, we must consider both process and product. Mining operations should contribute positively to the environment and society, while the materials they produce retain value beyond a single use.

Continuing to increase circularity across mine sites and their value chains helps minimise waste and maximise value at every stage of the life cycle, from sourcing to production, use, and recovery. ICMM’s Tools for Circularity provide a shared framework for understanding how mining and metals enable greater global circularity, highlight how businesses can unlock value through circular opportunities, and offer tangible examples of where this value has already been realised.

ICMM is fostering collaboration to create the right conditions—through regulation, technology, and financing—to support a systematic shift towards circularity. Beyond preventing metals from becoming waste, we must ensure that producing countries and regions are not left behind in the transition to a circular economy.

By aligning innovation with responsible production and recovery, we can ensure that metals and minerals continue to drive sustainable development without compromising the well-being of communities and ecosystems.

Challenges and opportunities in critical mineral supply chains

While critical minerals are vital for a sustainable future, several challenges must be addressed to ensure their responsible extraction and equitable distribution:

• Supply Instability: Over-reliance on a small number of countries for the production of critical minerals can create vulnerabilities in the global supply chain. For example, China controls a significant share of rare earth element production, raising concerns about supply chain resilience. Diversifying supply sources and improving mining infrastructure globally are necessary to mitigate these risks, whilst noting that such efforts often require concerted policy efforts and interventions.
• Environmental and Social Impacts: Without careful management, mineral extraction can harm ecosystems and communities. Poor tailings management and water contamination can affect biodiversity and human health. To mitigate these risks, advancements in mining technologies, such as water-efficient extraction processes, should be adopted alongside strong regulatory oversight and the adoption of robust responsible mining standards.
• Market Failures: Limited investment in critical mineral projects hinders efforts to meet rising demand. This is especially true in regions where infrastructure and financing gaps delay new mining and refining initiatives. Increased investment is essential to support new projects and meet the growing demand for critical minerals. Furthermore, there is currently no real price differentiation between responsibly and irresponsibly produced minerals and metals, which further undermines efforts to make responsible practices normative globally.  
• Policy Inconsistencies: Fragmented regulations and a lack of harmonised global standards complicate the implementation of responsible practices across mineral supply chains and jurisdictions. Establishing consistent international policies and frameworks can play a critical role in supporting responsible production.
• Managing Hazards and Ensuring Safety: The extraction, processing, and disposal of critical minerals can pose environmental and health risks if not managed responsibly. These risks largely stem from mining and industrial practices rather than the minerals themselves. Risks include environmental degradation, pollution, and health impacts on workers and communities.

Charting a path forward

A coordinated approach is needed to address these challenges and maximise the benefits of critical minerals. This includes:

• Mainstreaming of Responsible Practices: Ensuring that all (critical) minerals supply is mined in line with responsible mining practices and standards would be transformative; however, it is still far from normative at a global level.
• Streamlined Regulations: Streamlininig, and where appropriate, simplifying processes to advance new mining projects responsibly.
• Harmonised Standards: Ensuring ethical sourcing, protecting human rights, and fairly distributing benefits.
• Collaboration and involvement with relevant international processes: Ensuring our work is aligned with international processes and that ICMM is an active participant in these processes (where appropriate), for example the UN Secretary General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals and UNEA 7.

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