Attendees agree to accelerate progress towards diversified and sustainable supplies of minerals
The challenges and opportunities behind meeting the rising demand for minerals required for clean energy technologies was at forefront of discussions at the first IEA Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Summit held at Paris, France on September 28, 2023. Solar and electric vehicles are among clean energy technologies.
The market for critical minerals is growing at an unprecedented rate, the IEA Critical Minerals Market Review 2023, released earlier this year, found. The market for critical minerals has grown by a factor of two over the previous five years and reached $320 billion in 2022, it said.
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Critical minerals include copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt, which are essential components in such rapidly growing clean energy technologies.
The one-day meeting was attended by ministers, industry leaders, investors, international organisations and civil societies from 50 countries, who agreed on six main actions to assure sustainable, long-term and ethical supply chains of vital minerals.
The actions include: Advancing the goal of diversified mineral supplies; maximising the potential of technology and recycling; fostering market transparency; improving the accessibility of trustworthy information; establishing incentives for sustainable and responsible production; and stepping up efforts to foster international cooperation.
The summit built on the ministerial directive issued to the IEA in 2022 to advance its work on vital minerals, the constituents of solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, among other important clean energy technologies.
Between 2017 and 2022, demand from the energy sector for lithium tripled. There was a 70 per cent increase in cobalt demand and a rise of 40 per cent in nickel demand too, as per the IEA estimates. The momentum is expected to continue through 2023 and beyond, the IEA said in its review.
In the Net Zero emissions scenario by 2050, the demand for critical minerals would reach 30 million tonnes, said the IEA. This calls for a broad and bold strategy that brings together investment, innovation, recycling, rigorous sustainability standards and well-designed safety nets.
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However, there’s a need to increase the supply of critical minerals to support Net Zero goals while ensuring a diversified and secure marketplace.
“Locking in secure and sustainable supplies of critical minerals for the clean energy transition has quickly become a top priority for governments, companies and investors around the world,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement.
Delegates at the summit, too, agreed on the need to accelerate progress towards diversified and sustainable supplies of critical minerals. This was among the first of six actions that the leaders agreed to at the event.
They emphasised the value of recycling and utilising technology to its fullest extent in order to reduce any future supply constraints.
The delegates also arrived at a consensus on the potential of new technology to reduce energy and water requirements in extraction and processing, optimise extraction methods, product design and end-of-life processes to improve resource efficiency, said IEA in a statement.
At the summit, IEA committed to carry out a comprehensive research to look at efficient recycling methods for all conceivable sources, including e-waste, industrial scrap, end-of-life batteries, wind turbines and permanent magnets.
Lack of transparency in pricing across several important mineral markets impacts new investments. So, in accordance with the G7 Five-Point Plan for Critical Minerals Security, the IEA also agreed to strengthen its market monitoring capabilities, including supply and demand projections.
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Incentivising sustainable and responsible production of critical minerals was also one of the key actions agreed upon by the leaders.
These include rewarding environmental, social and governance efforts and speeding up approvals of new facilities without loosening legal and regulatory protections.
The delegates acknowledged the significance of providing incentives to encourage sustainable and responsible production of critical minerals.
While the rising growth in demand on critical minerals was a key agenda and a recurrent theme throughout the IEA summit, there was a consensus that no one nation or company could handle it alone.
The Ministerial Meeting will be hosted by the IEA in February 2024 after this event, which will give nations a significant opportunity to evaluate what crucial minerals represent for the evolving nature of global cooperation on energy security and climate change.
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In the Net Zero emissions scenario by 2050, the demand for critical minerals for clean energy technologies would reach 30 million tonnes. Photo: iStock .png)
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