Innovative Energy Consultancy Ltd
Innovative Energy Consultancy Ltd

Clean energy demand from IEA for critical minerals

The International Energy Agency has called on the UK government to ensure the reliable, sustainable supply of critical battery minerals, important for clean energy technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Announcing the report, the IEA said: “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, creating potential energy security hazards that governments must act now to address, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.

“The special report, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, is the most comprehensive global study to date 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. Building on the IEA’s longstanding leadership role in energy security, 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.

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 onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a similarly sized gas-fired power plant.

The IEA announcement continued: “Unlike oil – a commodity produced around the world and traded in liquid markets – production and processing of many minerals such as lithium, cobalt and some rare earth elements are highly concentrated in a handful of countries, with the top three producers accounting for more than 75% of supplies.”

Read more on the IEA website here.

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