Critical Minerals

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Critical minerals—such as aluminum, copper, lithium, and cobalt—will require unprecedented investment in order to make a shift to a clean energy system. Leveraging the increased global demand for these minerals is critical to achieving net-zero targets.

Critical Minerals

Publications

May 26, 2023 •Op-eds & Essays • Critical Minerals

How Chile’s Politics Are Shaping the Global Energy Transition

By Juan Carlos Jobet , Tom Moerenhout , Jason Bordoff • Foreign Policy

May 01, 2023 •External Publications • Critical Minerals

Critical Minerals for Net-Zero Transition: How the G7 can Address Supply Chain Challenges and Socioenvironmental Spillovers

By Tom Moerenhout • Think7

May 01, 2023 •External Publications • Critical Minerals

Securing Critical Minerals Supply Chains for the Clean Energy Transition

By Tom Moerenhout • T20 India 2023

April 19, 2022 •Commentary • Critical Minerals

Supply of Critical Minerals Amid the Russia-Ukraine War and Possible Sanctions

The US and EU governments are looking closely at further sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine that go beyond energy markets to directly target other sectors of the Russian natural resources and manufacturing complex.

By Robert ("RJ") Johnston

July 01, 2021 •External Publications • Critical Minerals

Driving Demand: Assessing the impacts and opportunities of the electric vehicle revolution on cobalt and lithium raw material production and trade

This report assesses the impact and opportunities for developing countries of the boom in demand...

By Tom Moerenhout • International Institute for Sustainable Development

Topics

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Climate Change

Climate change is one of the central challenges of the 21st century. Building and linking the policies, technologies, financial systems, and markets needed to achieve climate goals is key to addressing this challenge.

Energy for Development

Energy access is central to reducing poverty. Energy is also critical to developing country efforts to move towards broader prosperity, which are significantly increasing their demand for energy.

Energy Justice

Energy justice works hand-in-hand with the energy transition—where fair and just policies for marginalized communities must be prioritized. Understanding how we define and measure energy and environmental justice is key to building a strong energy system.

Energy Markets

Well-functioning energy markets are critical to the distribution of energy resources. Understanding how they work, how they can be improved, and how they are being impacted by the changes afoot in the energy sector is key to meeting energy and environmental goals.

Energy Policy

Establishing energy policy solutions informed by rigorous research and dialogue is key to addressing climate change, increasing access to energy, and sparking innovation for a thriving global energy economy.

Energy & Public Health

Improving public health is tied to quickly transitioning our energy supplies to clean, low-carbon energy sources. By developing and implementing solutions for clean energy systems as soon as possible, we can mitigate the damage to our global health.

Energy Security

Energy security has long been a central objective of energy policy, yet remains poorly understood and defined. Assessing energy security risks, and how they are evolving, is key for both the public and private sector.

Finance & Economics

The clean energy transition requires a substantial study and understanding of financial and economic tools. Leveraging funding is crucial to effectively invest in clean energy innovations—to cut air pollution, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and fight climate change.

Fossil Energy

Global fossil fuel use has grown alongside GDP since the start of the Industrial Revolution and currently makes up roughly 80% of global energy demand. But to meet our goals to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 C degrees, demand will need to drop sharply by 2050.

Geopolitics

Energy has long been intimately tied to global geopolitics, power and foreign policies. The rapid pace of change in the energy sector is creating new sources of uncertainty and risk that require careful study and understanding.

Hydrogen

As global climate change and greenhouse gas emissions reductions become increasingly urgent to counter climate change, many nations have announced net-zero emission targets as a commitment to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Industrial Decarbonization

Industrial decarbonization and electrification leads to several benefits beyond slowing climate change, including dramatically improving air quality and reducing millions of early deaths globally. Building infrastructure to decarbonizing industries is crucial to mitigating carbon emissions.

Innovation & Technology

Technological innovation has the potential to disrupt energy markets and influence energy policy around the world. It also plays an important role to improve access to energy sources in developing nations and to meet global environment goals.

Natural Gas

The global gas market is undergoing a period of profound transformation as a result of new sources of supply, demand, changing trade patterns, and technological and policy shifts. The transition to a low-carbon economy and efforts to curb air pollution are also key policy aims that will impact the role of gas in the future energy mix.

Nuclear Energy

Although it is a source of essentially carbon-free power, nuclear energy remains one of the most divisive components of the world’s primary energy mix. Its future rests largely on questions of cost, safety, waste management and proliferation-resistant technology.

Oil

Oil is the world’s most actively traded commodity, but forecasts vary as to whether it will start to wane in the decades to come. Understanding the changes that are sweeping through the oil industry and market today are key to understanding the outlook for economic growth, climate change, and geopolitical conflict.

Power Sector

Aging infrastructure, distributed generation, storage and new consumer technologies are precipitating reconfiguration of the power sector.

Renewable Energy

The rise of renewable energy resources is upending traditional energy markets, trade flows and presents a new set of challenges for policymakers, as well as new opportunities to address the challenge of climate change around the world.

Transportation

Transportation has the highest reliance on fossil fuels of any sector and accounted for 37% of global CO2 emissions in 2021. All strategies in transitioning our energy systems must look closely at how to decarbonize transportation sector.

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