Geopolitics of the Energy Transition: Critical Materials

GEOPOLITICSOF THEENERGYTRANSITION CRITICALMATERIALS labour demand transparent resource supplychain nickel supplyclimate demanrdisk resilient miningfuture MNCinnovation co-operation metalsinclusionminerals change humansecurity cobalt lithiumvaluecreation responsibleefficiency economystockpiling standards coppertrade markets corporationscghalnogebriasklinnovation rights rights labour ©IRENA2023 Unlessotherwisestated,materialinthispublicationmaybefreelyused,shared,copied,reproduced,printedand/orstored,providedthatappropriateacknowledgementisgivenofIRENAasthesourceandcopyrightholder.Materialinthispublicationthatisattributedtothirdpartiesmaybesubjecttoseparatetermsofuseandrestrictions,andappropriatepermissionsfromthesethirdpartiesmayneedtobesecuredbeforeanyuseofsuchmaterial. ISBN:978-92-9260-539-1 CITATION:IRENA(2023),Geopoliticsoftheenergytransition:Criticalmaterials,InternationalRenewableEnergyAgency,AbuDhabi. Forfurtherinformationortoprovidefeedback:publications@irena.orgThisreportisavailablefordownload:www.irena.org/publications ABOUTIRENA TheInternationalRenewableEnergyAgency(IRENA)isanintergovernmentalorganisationthatsupportscountriesintheirtransitiontoasustainableenergyfuture.Itservesastheprincipalplatformforinternationalco-operation,acentreofexcellence,andarepositoryofpolicy,technology,resourceandfinancialknowledgeonrenewableenergy.IRENApromotesthewidespreadadoptionandsustainableuseofallformsofrenewableenergy,includingbioenergy,geothermal,hydropower,ocean,solarandwindenergy,inthepursuitofsustainabledevelopment,energyaccess,energysecurityandlow-carboneconomicgrowthandprosperity.www.irena.org ThispublicationwassupportedbyvoluntarycontributionsfromtheGovernmentsoftheNetherlandsandNorway. DISCLAIMER Thispublicationandthematerialhereinareprovided“asis”.AllreasonableprecautionshavebeentakenbyIRENAtoverifythereliabilityofthematerialinthispublication.However,neitherIRENAnoranyofitsofficials,agents,dataorotherthird-partycontentprovidersprovidesawarrantyofanykind,eitherexpressedorimplied,andtheyacceptnoresponsibilityorliabilityforanyconsequenceofuseofthepublicationormaterialherein. TheinformationcontainedhereindoesnotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsofallMembersofIRENA.ThementionofspecificcompaniesorcertainprojectsorproductsdoesnotimplythattheyareendorsedorrecommendedbyIRENAinpreferencetoothersofasimilarnaturethatarenotmentioned.ThedesignationsemployedandthepresentationofmaterialhereindonotimplytheexpressionofanyopiniononthepartofIRENAconcerningthelegalstatusofanyregion,country,territory,cityorareaorofitsauthorities,orconcerningthedelimitationoffrontiersorboundaries. AllphotosofmineralsandmetalswithoutowncreditareusedunderlicencefromShutterstock. GeopoliticsoftheEnergyTransformationCRITICALMATERIALS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ThisreportwasauthoredunderthesupervisionandguidanceofElizabethPress(Director,IRENAPlanningandProgrammeSupport)byThijsVandeGraaf(IRENAconsultantandleadauthor),MartinaLyons,IsaacElizondoGarcia,EllipseRath(IRENA)andBenjaminGibson(ex-IRENA). Theauthorsaregratefulforthereviews,inputsandsupportprovidedbyIRENAcolleaguesRolandRoesch,RabiaFerroukhi,AnastasiaKefalidou,ClaireKiss(ex-IRENA),DeeptiSiddhanti,DivyamNagpal,FrancisField,FranciscoBoshell,GriffinThompson(IRENAconsultant),KathleenDaniel,KellyRigg(IRENAconsultant),MichaelRenner,MirjamReiner,PaulKomor,SophieSauerteig(ex-IRENA),StephanieClarke,UteCollierandZhaoyu‘Lewis’Wu. OthervaluableinputswereprovidedbySaraGeeraerts(IMEP);AndréMånberger,DastanBekmuratov,GavkharkhonMamadzhanova,IdaDokkSmith,IndraOverland,JuliaLoginova,MariTønnessen,PhilipSwanson,RomanVakulchukandTatjanaStankovic(NUPI). PeerreviewwasprovidedbyHenrySanderson(BenchmarkMineralIntelligence);JanMorrill,PaulinaPersonius,PayalSampatandVuyisileNcube(Earthworks);SebastianSahla(EITI);YanaPopkostova(EuropeanCentreforEnergyandGeopoliticalAnalysis);IrinaPatrahau(HCSS);KarstenSach(IRENAconsultant);PatríciaAlvesDiasandVangelisTzimas(JRC);HansOlavIbrekkandJonasVoldenWeltan(MFA,Norway);Jean-PhilippeBernierandJeffreyAkomah(NaturalResourcesCanada);DavidManley(NRGI);ClarisseLegendre,LouisMarechal,LucaMaiottiandPrzemyslawKowalski(OECD);JimKrane(RiceUniversity'sBakerInstitute);KathrynSturman(SustainableMineralsInstitute);LeonardoBuizza(SYSTEMIQLtd,ETC);LigiaNoronhaandMariaJoseBaptista(UNEP);MatthewDavidWittenstein(UNESCAP);VirginieNachbaur(UniversityofRouenNormandy);AaronNG,AnnaWendt,DennisMesinaand,SalimBhabhrawala(USDepartmentofEnergy);andDolfGielen(WorldBank). IRENAisgratefultothefollowingnationalrepresentativesfortheirresponsestothesurvey:NirodChandraMondal(Bangladesh);RobbieFrank(Canada);MoussaOusman(CentralAfricanRepublic);JarkkoVesa(Finland);NicolasLeconte(France);StefanoRaimondi(Italy);BrianRichardson(Jamaica);PaulMbuthi(Kenya);HaroldMadriz(Nicaragua);RosilenaLindo(Panama);MarcoAntonioSantiváñezPimentel(Peru);JosephineBahrLjungdell(Sweden);BrianIsabirye(Uganda);MahekMehta(UnitedKingdom);AaronNg(UnitedStates);andSostenZiuku(Zimbabwe). IRENAalsothanksthefollowingexpertsurveyrespondentsfortheirvaluableinput