International Energy Forum reveals how critical minerals have moved to the mainstream

Critical minerals emerge as a new frontier in energy geoeconomics, reshaping trade flows, investment and energy security.

The report, A Critical Minerals Enabled Energy Future, examines the scale of the challenge and identifies pathways to strengthen resilience, including diversified supply, recycling and circular economy solutions, innovation, and more transparent, predictable, and rules-based markets.

The report also discussed how sustained producer-consumer dialogue, underpinned by better data and shared analysis, can ease frictions, build market confidence, and support fair and inclusive outcomes by improving predictability and reducing uncertainty.

‘Critical minerals are no longer a niche issue at the margins of the energy transition,’ says Jassim Alshirawi, Secretary General of the International Energy Forum. ‘They are now central to energy security, economic competitiveness and the credibility of national climate strategies. Without secure, transparent, and resilient mineral supply chains, the energy transition itself is at risk.’

Key findings include:

• Access to knowledge and human resources are as critical to mineral supply chains as access to resources and markets themselves.
• More than 60% of global critical mineral demand is met through international trade, creating deep interdependence between producing and consuming regions.
• Producer–consumer dialogue is essential to the reliable functioning of critical mineral markets.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming mineral exploration by dramatically improving discovery efficiency and precision.
• Market resilience, strengthened through producer–consumer dialogue and effective risk-management strategies, remains essential for critical-mineral market security.