ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
Clean energy demand for critical minerals set to soar According to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), supplies of critical minerals essential for key clean energy technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines need to pick up sharply over the coming decades to meet the world’s climate goals.
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special report, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, is a comprehensive global study on the central importance of minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements in a secure and rapid transformation of the global energy sector. The report recommends six key areas of action for policymakers to ensure that critical minerals enable an accelerated transition to clean energy rather than becoming a bottleneck. “Today, the data shows a looming mismatch between the world’s strengthened climate ambitions and the availability of critical minerals that are essential to realising those ambitions,” says Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA. “The challenges are not insurmountable, but governments must give clear signals about how they plan to turn their climate pledges into action. By acting now and acting together, they can significantly reduce the risks of price volatility and supply disruptions.” The special report, part of the IEA’s flagship World Energy Outlook series, underscores that the mineral requirements of an energy system powered by clean energy technologies differ profoundly from one that runs on fossil fuels. A typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, and an
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onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a similarly sized gas-fired power plant. Addressing potential vulnerabilities Birol adds that if potential vulnerabilities are not addressed, they could make global progress towards a clean energy future slower and more costly – and therefore hamper international efforts to tackle climate change. “This is what energy security looks like in the 21st century, and the IEA is fully committed to helping governments ensure that these hazards don’t derail the global drive to accelerate energy transitions.” Demand outlooks and supply vulnerabilities vary widely by mineral, but the energy sector’s overall need for critical minerals could increase by as much as six times by 2040, depending on how rapidly governments act to reduce emissions. Not only is this a massive increase in absolute terms but, as the costs of technologies fall, mineral inputs will account for an increasingly important part of the value of key components, making their overall costs more vulnerable to potential mineral price swings. The commercial importance of these minerals also grows rapidly: today’s revenue from coal production is 10 times larger than from energy transition
