Critical minerals for clean energy ‘concentrated in fewer countries'
The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) report looked at the availability of minerals and metals that may be small in quantity – but large in impact when it comes to shifting the economy away from fossil fuels toward electricity and renewable energy.
It found that for copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements, the average market share of the three top producing countries rose to 86% in 2024 from 82% in 2020.
China is the leading refiner for 19 out of 20 strategic minerals studied in the report, and has an average share of around 75%.
Indonesia showed strong growth in nickel, a key component in making steel and batteries for electric vehicles.
The current trend toward export restrictions and trade disputes increases concerns, the IEA said.
'Critical mineral supply chains can be highly vulnerable to supply shocks, be they from extreme weather, a technical failure or trade disruptions,' said IEA executive director Fatih Birol.
'The impact of a supply shock can be far-reaching, bringing higher prices for consumers and reducing industrial competitiveness.'
🗣️ 'In a world of high geopolitical tensions, critical minerals have emerged as frontline issue in safeguarding global energy and economic security.'
More from IEA's @fbirol on our Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 👉 https://t.co/PNix0wVY8E pic.twitter.com/dyf0obPlgw — International Energy Agency (@IEA) May 21, 2025
Mr Birol cited the energy crisis in Europe after Russia cut off natural gas supplies over the invasion of Ukraine.
Another cautionary tale is the global shortage of silicon-based computer chips during and after the pandemic, which disrupted car production.
'The golden rule of energy security is diversification,' Mr Birol said. 'And it goes beyond energy security, it is also economic security.'
Market forces are important in developing new sources but will not be enough.
'There is a need for well-designed government policies' in the form of financing and other measures, he said.
China is a massive global source of critical minerals required for a wide range of goods that includes computer chips, robots, electric cars, batteries, drones, and military equipment. It also dominates the refining and processing of many of these critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, graphite and more.
This morning, we released Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 ➡️ https://t.co/U7rQpiHrZt
In just 1️⃣ hour, join our Executive Director @fbirol, Chief Energy Economist Tim Gould & lead author @tae100 for the LIVE report launch
Tune in from 11:00 CEST ➡️ https://t.co/IOjePH9rHV pic.twitter.com/QfOTwC5BcE — International Energy Agency (@IEA) May 21, 2025
Beijing has placed export limits on many of these key products and tightened controls on others as American President Donald Trump's trade negotiations escalate, stifling US industry and the nation's ability to find quick alternatives.
Without access to China's significant reserves, US manufacturers have a harder time competing amid mounting global supply tensions.
Mr Trump has made reducing US dependence on foreign critical minerals a core tenet of his first 100 days back in office as part of a national security and economic resilience agenda.
This goes beyond China; the Trump administration finalised a rocky deal with Ukraine granting American access to the nation's vast mineral resources earlier this month.
Mr Trump is also looking to expedite deep-sea mining in international waters, much to the chagrin of environmental groups.
He called for a boost in the domestic copper industry in a February executive order alongside other calls for the federal government to fast-track new mine permits; has reviewed a minerals proposal from Congo, a conflict-riddled nation also rich with mineral reserves; and attempted to strong-arm Greenland into providing more of its minerals to the US.
The IEA report said that global markets were well supplied at the moment and that prices in general have fallen.
It warned however that planned production of copper, which is essential for electric wiring and power grids, would not keep pace with demand and predicted a 30% shortfall by 2030.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
John Whelan: Tariff-free services exports are key to growth for now
Across the business front, particularly the digital providers, an audible sigh of relief can be noticed as it became clear that the EU's €93bn list of countermeasure tariffs against the US does not include services trade. The EU's countermeasures will automatically click into force on August 7, said the European Commission, should the US fail to drop the Trump-threatened 30% tariff on all EU exports by then. The big worry for Ireland's services companies, which are mainly US multinationals, accounting for €115bn in exports sales in the first three months of the year as reported by the Central Statistics Office earlier in the month, was that the EU countermeasure tariffs on the US would include services. This would have had major implications for the many thousands employed in the sector, likely forcing relocations to other non-EU countries, as well as significantly hitting the Government's corporation tax take. Now the full weight of the EU-US tariff war is set to fall on the wide range of manufactured goods, inclusive of food and drinks products, which could impact on sales output to our largest customer the US, and in the process hitting State funding. The implication of this change in trading relationship with the US is the need to bolster support for Ireland's traders in the services sector, in particular, digital trade providers such as Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. Foreign-owned enterprises account for 80% of Ireland's services exports, the second highest of the OECD countries, as reported in its Services Trade Restrictiveness Index report 2025. This leaves Ireland more exposed than most countries to US trade pressures, as the vast majority of these Ireland-based multinationals are US-owned. Retaining these global digital players in Ireland must continue to be a priority for the Government, but also there is an urgent need to do more to develop indigenous Irish companies, to ensure more controllable and sustainable growth of the services exports sector. Amazon scraps plan for plant Amazon's scrapping of its plan to build an industrial plant in Dublin, involving a €300m investment which would employ more than 500, because it did not receive the necessary Government guarantees about power supplies the plant would require, is a clear indicator of the challenges faced in retaining the multinationals in Ireland. This Amazon project loss is a critical blow to our attempts to stay up with the global AI tech race, as the now scuttled project involved the creation of an AI testing and manufacturing facility and not a data centre. It would also have enabled the training of a fresh cohort of employees, who could in the future enable the setting up of indigenous AI start-ups. To date, Enterprise Ireland, which supports Irish-owned companies, has failed to significantly grow the service exporting industry. Enterprise Ireland client companies account for under 2% of our total service trade exports. The other 18% of the services exports from Ireland come from entrepreneurs who have built their export businesses without State support. Many of them depend on good access to digital services platforms provided by the likes of Google, Meta, and Microsoft, which again underscores the critical reliance on the connection with the US. Reducing dependence on the US and deepening EU integration in services could be achieved by encouraging more innovation and stimulating much-needed investment. An easy win should be with the UK, which last year imported €314bn in services, but only €12bn from Ireland. Service sector reforms are, of course, not going to be easy, either in their politics or in their execution. The freedom to establish a company in another EU country and the freedom to provide or receive services in another EU country are already established for many services through the EU Services Directive — but implementation has been weak. Services regulations are complex and highly decentralised. In many EU member states, reforms are often implemented by professional associations, who may have a bias against reforms or even a conflict of interest. Many professions and industries thrive on the fees that regulatory constraints generate — and you and I, as service users, are rarely aware of the costs that these regulations impose on us. Read More Trump and von der Leyen set for crunch meeting on EU-US trade talks
Sunday World
a day ago
- Sunday World
Private car parking firms are hitting drivers with illegal fines
June Bowers endured a near five-month battle over a fine imposed after an alleged infraction. Private car parking firms are intimidating unwitting car owners to part with illegal fines, it has been claimed. GB-based firms are operating contracts in Northern Ireland to redeem fines for traffic offences at places such as the George Best Belfast City Airport and other public amenities. Aggressive tactics include threats of legal action, court appearances and rising fines if the original demand is not met. It has now emerged in most cases they are not entitled to demand penalty payments which can escalate to hundreds of pounds. The firms, appointed by the likes of the City Airport, are applying laws that are enforceable only in England and Wales and do not apply to Northern Ireland. The disparity emerged after car owner June Bowers from Monkstown emerged victorious in a near five-month battle over a £100 fine imposed after an alleged infraction at the City Airport. ticket She was hit with a £100 fine and, having had two appeals rejected by Sheffield-based Vehicle Control Services, was then threatened with an additional £70 levy and possible legal action. Mrs Bowers, who is 81 and in poor health, was not behind the wheel on the evening of February 8 this year. The driver was at the airport to collect people travelling to Belfast to attend a funeral. Mrs Bowers' husband, veteran trade unionist Joe Bowers, said it was an 'outrage'' that his wife has been subjected to such intimidating behaviour. He said they were determined to resist increasingly aggressive demands. 'I think it's outrageous how these companies intimidate people into paying these fines, we have discovered that, certainly in our case there was no legal requirement to pay.' He said the Sheffield-based company sent them repeated demands for £170, threatening court action. It became clear in repeated correspondence that Vehicle Control Services were basing their demands on laws that don't apply here. The Bowers made repeated appeals, all of which were rejected with increasingly aggressive and threatening behaviour from the company. It a further twist the 'debt'' was sold to a debt recovering agency called Debt Recovery Plus. June Bowers pictured in her home. Photo: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press News in 90 Seconds - July 26th 'They have created an industry of their own,' said Joe, 'they are generating huge amounts of money – the debt recovery agency is on record as making millions. 'My issue is that people are being intimidated into paying fines that they should not be getting. We could have let this go for a quiet life, but it got under my skin that people are being put under this type of pressure.' Earlier this month the private company relented but 'warned' Mrs Bowers that any future transgression would result in firm action. The ticket was as a result of the driver of Mrs Bowers' car finding themselves in the wrong car park at the City. 'The driver found themselves in the wrong car park when they should have been in the short stay, so had to pay to get out, then repeated the mistake and had to pay again, that was their mistake we have no issue with that,' said Joe. 'But the new layout at Belfast City is confusing and there are lots of signs, which you can't read unless you slow down. 'I just think it's outrageous that this company can behave like this. 'These private companies seem to be completely unaccountable they are very aggressive in their approach, it's a form of intimidation.' The law in England and Wales requires those issued with a ticket to reveal the identity of the driver, that is not a requirement in Northern Ireland and unless the ticket company know the identity of the driver, a fixed penalty is not viable. But VCS were not interested in any mitigating circumstances and insisted they would try and enforce the fine. Joe Bowers said he suspects people finding themselves in a similar situation have been bullied into paying. He said: 'How can you understand what you're supposed to do if you don't pause to read the rules?' This week Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan called for greater regulation around the issue of private firms issuing fines. The SDLP MLA claimed that, after dealing with 'countless cases' of people contacted by private parking firms, the 'supposed violations' are 'often based on faulty camera evidence or registration systems'. He was speaking after writing to the Infrastructure Minister to ask if new legislation could be introduced to regulate private parking firms in Northern Ireland. The minister, Liz Kimmins, said in a written response that there was currently 'no legislation which specifically applies to privately owned car parks' and 'no plans' from her department to introduce any. Ms Kimmins said: 'Whilst my department is responsible for on-street parking enforcement across the North, it has no responsibility for the operation and management of private car parks nor the enforcement companies that operate within them. 'There is no legislation which specifically applies to privately-owned car parks and my department currently has no plans to introduce legislation in this area.' She added: 'However, any organisation that operates parking on private land and requests keeper details from the DVLA must be approved by an Accredited Trade Association such as the Approved Operator Scheme managed by the British Parking Association. 'Members of this scheme must adhere to the BPA AOS Code of Practice for the control and enforcement of parking on private land and unregulated public car parks.' Belfast City Airport has been contacted.
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
ICS Mortgages cuts rates despite ECB pausing reductions
The new variable rates are available from the start of August. The reduction is just 0.2 percentage points. ICS, which is the trading name of Dilosk, said the reduction applies across all loan to value bands for new and existing owner occupier variable rate customers. Chief commercial officer at ICS Mortgages Ray McMahon said: 'We are pleased to introduce these rate reductions as part of our ongoing efforts to deliver value and support to our customers. At ICS Mortgages, our mortgages remain innovative and responsive to our customer's needs.' But ICS said there will be no changes to interest rates for former Ulster Bank Flexible Mortgage customers who migrated to Dilosk. Earlier this week, AIB units EBS and Haven said they were cutting interest rates on their non-green mortgages by up to 0.50pc for new and existing customers. The latest ICS Mortgages, EBS and Haven reductions are being implemented despite the European Central Bank (ECB) leaving its interest rates unchanged this week after eight previous reductions. Many experts reckon the ECB is now finished its rate-cutting actions. However, some market watchers say their could be one more 0.5 percentage point reduction in ECB rates later in the year. The Frankfurt-based central bank is on hold as it waits to see how big a blow US President Donald Trump's tariffs will inflict on the economy before deciding whether to cut rates again. Bank boss Christine Lagarde said: 'The economy has so far proven resilient overall in a challenging global environment. 'At the same time, the environment remains exceptionally uncertain, especially because of trade disputes.' The ECB has already cut rates eight times since June of last year and Ms Lagarde said after the last policy meeting on June 5 that the central bank is 'getting to the end of a monetary policy cycle'. Inflation has fallen from double digits in late 2022 to 2pc in June, in line with the ECB's target. A stronger euro, which lowers the price of imports, and softer global prices for oil have helped keep inflation moderate. The stronger euro, up 13pc this year, has attracted attention as a potential damper on growth.
