The double-edged role of critical raw materials in the energy transition

The imperative of the energy transition overshadows that CRM supply chains are connected to a multitude of socio-environmental conflicts, including child labor, safety issues during extraction, and long-term ecological harm alongside the lifecycle of CRMs (see also out story on the nexus between Mining Activities and Deforestation). This undermines the UN SDGs that should be supported by CRM extraction and use (UNECE 2024). Amid rising CRM supply concentration and pressing demand for CRMs, extractive economies like China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other (emerging) regions of the Global South deployed export restrictions for CRMs. As for 2025, the majority of energy-related key minerals are subject to (temporary) export controls (IEA 2025b). As refining usually happens in the Global North, these trade restrictions serve primarily to stimulate (economic) beneficiation for extracting economies and to increase their industrialization processing capacities (Ramdoo 2024). 

According to the European Commission, the secured access to CRMs requires a higher proportion of materials sourced from recycling, as it reduces the EU’s import dependency. The EU aims to achieve a recycling rate of 25% for CRMs by 2030 (European Commission 2024b). With increasing CRM demand and higher energy costs of extraction due to declining ore grades, higher recycling rates have become a viable option. For instance, recycling platinum requires 90 % less energy than primary extraction (Eisenmenger et al. 2020). However, in 2023, only aluminum, copper and tungsten had a recycling rate above 25%, while other CRMs had rates well below 10%. Reaching a CRM recycling rate of 25% strongly depends on further research, development, and on innovative solutions. For several CRMs, like neodymium or lithium, secondary resources in waste streams are currently inadequate to meet expected CRM consumption levels. Thus, consumption patterns also determine, whether set recycling targets are feasible (Tröster, Papathephilou and Küblböck 2024). 

Taking all these aspects into account, it becomes inevitable to establish a responsible management of CRM, the UN Expert Group on Resource Management addressed the issue with a framework for managing CRMs in a more sustainable and transparent way, including the UN Framework Classification System (UNFC), the UN Resource Management System (UNRMS) toolkit, as well as several policies for recycling, circular economy and decarbonizing energy intensive industries (UNECE 2024, 8ff.). Not only responsible sourcing of CRMs aligns with several SDGs, but also tackling supply risks, as these can undermine several SDGs; for instance, CRM supply disruption affects the health sector by limiting availability and affordability of medical devices or the access to clean and affordable energy (UN 2023, 3). At the same time, establishing transparency and responsible sourcing of CRMs could be jeopardized by the fear of excessive reporting burdens and related initiatives aiming to reduce administrative efforts for businesses and stakeholders such as the Omnibus Directive I adopted by the European Commission in 2025, which drastically reduces the number of companies obliged to do comprehensive sustainability and due diligence reporting (European Commission 2025, 2ff.). 

The paradigm of increasing CRM extraction for the energy transition oversees impacts and risks associated with the extraction of CRMs. In essence, the quality of the transition towards decarbonized and circular economies and societies depends immensely on how aspects such as supply chain sustainability, circularity and security are taken into account. In this context, a crucial aspect is that of sufficiency, because by maintaining growth rates in energy demand, decarbonization merely shifts the problem from fossil fuels and climate change to metallic/mineral resources and their associated social, economic and environmental impacts.