Geopolitics of Access to Critical Minerals Necessary to Support Energy Transition

The decarbonisation of energy systems, as a vital component of the transition to a low carbon economy, continues to generate demand for finite resources. These come in the form not of coal, oil gas, or other fossil fuels but in the form of a suite of critical raw materials, usually minerals, which are crucial components to the working of renewable energy supplies and associated shifts such as that to electric mobility. In this paper we assess the rising demand for these critical raw materials and their role in energy transition. This is in the context of efforts to decarbonise energy systems in line with their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to carbon reduction in pledges made under the Paris Agreement. The paper suggests that the Paris Agreement fired a starting gun in a pursuit of economic growth based upon the notion of a green economy. This has driven demand for the materials in question to a point at which we witness a growing protectionism within world trade. Having explained the features of the new protectionist stance, the paper reviews the role of circular economy structures in building energy security through control of secondary critical material resources, before concluding with a call for need for access to critical materials to feature more prominently in current debates on energy security.