Report: World's supply of critical minerals for clean energy is concentrated in fewer countries

FRANKFURT – The world's sources of captious minerals are progressively concentrated successful conscionable a fewer countries, astir notably China, leaving the planetary system susceptible to proviso cutoffs that could disrupt economies and deed consumers with higher prices, a study said Wednesday.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency's study looked astatine the availability of minerals and metals that whitethorn beryllium tiny successful quantity — but ample successful interaction erstwhile it comes to shifting the system distant from fossil fuels toward energy and renewable energy.

It recovered that for copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and uncommon world elements, the mean marketplace stock of the 3 apical producing countries roseate to 86% successful 2024 from 82% successful 2020.

China is the starring refiner for 19 retired of 20 strategical minerals studied successful the report, and has an mean stock of astir 75%. Indonesia showed beardown maturation successful nickel, a cardinal constituent successful making alloy and batteries for electrical vehicles.

The existent inclination toward export restrictions and commercialized disputes increases concerns, the IEA said.

“Critical mineral proviso chains tin beryllium highly susceptible to proviso shocks, beryllium they from utmost weather, a method nonaccomplishment oregon commercialized disruptions,” said IEA enforcement manager Fatih Birol. ”The interaction of a proviso daze tin beryllium far-reaching, bringing higher prices for consumers and reducing concern competitiveness.”

Birol cited the vigor situation successful Europe aft Russia chopped disconnected earthy state supplies implicit the penetration of Ukraine. Another cautionary communicative is the planetary shortage of silicon-based machine chips during and aft the pandemic, which disrupted car production.

“The aureate regularisation of vigor information is diversification,” Birol told The Associated Press successful an interview. “And it goes beyond vigor security, it is besides economical security."

Market forces are important successful processing caller sources but won't beryllium enough. “There is simply a request for well-designed authorities policies” successful the signifier of financing and different measures, helium said.

China is simply a monolithic planetary root of captious minerals required for a wide scope of goods that includes machine chips, robots, electrical autos, batteries, drones, and subject equipment. It besides dominates the refining and processing of galore of these captious minerals, including lithium, cobalt, graphite and more.

China has placed export limits of galore of these cardinal products and tightened controls connected others arsenic President Donald Trump’s commercialized negotiations escalate, stifling U.S. manufacture and the nation’s quality to find speedy alternatives. Without entree to China’s important reserves, U.S. manufacturers person a harder clip competing amid mounting planetary proviso tensions.

Trump has made reducing U.S. dependence connected overseas captious minerals a halfway tenet of his archetypal 100 days backmost successful bureau arsenic portion of a nationalist information and economical resilience agenda.

This goes beyond China; the Trump medication finalized a rocky woody with Ukraine granting American entree to the nation’s immense mineral resources earlier this month.

Trump is besides looking to expedite deep-sea mining successful planetary waters, overmuch to the chagrin of biology groups. He called for a boost successful the home copper manufacture successful a February enforcement order alongside different calls for the national authorities to fast-track caller excavation permits; has reviewed a minerals proposal from Congo, a conflict-riddled federation besides affluent with mineral reserves; and attempted to strong-arm Greenland into providing much of its minerals to the U.S.

The IEA study said that planetary markets were good supplied astatine the infinitesimal and that prices successful wide person fallen. It warned nevertheless that planned accumulation of copper, which is indispensable for electrical wiring and powerfulness grids, would not support gait with request and predicted a 30% shortfall by 2030.

—-

St. John contributed from Detroit, Michigan.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.