A Critical Minerals Enabled Energy Future

Overview

Critical minerals are rapidly becoming the backbone of the digital economy, from renewables and electric vehicles to AI and advanced manufacturing. As demand accelerates and supply chains remain concentrated, these markets are emerging as a new frontier in energy geoeconomics, shaping trade patterns, investment priorities, and producer–consumer relations.

This report explores the scale of the challenge and the opportunities to strengthen resilience through diversified supply, recycling and circular economy solutions, innovation, and crucially, more transparent, predictable, and rule-based markets. It also sets out how sustained producer–consumer dialogue, supported by better data and shared analysis, can reduce friction, improve market confidence, and support a fair, secure, and inclusive critical-mineral-enabled energy future.

"Critical minerals are no longer a niche issue at the margins of the energy transition, 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."

Jassim Alshirawi
Secretary General, IEF

Key Findings

Key findings of the report 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.

Key Charts

About the International Energy Forum

The International Energy Forum (IEF), the global home of energy dialogue, is the trusted and neutral intergovernmental platform for energy dialogue among member states, industry leaders, and experts. Its Ministers represent producing, consuming, and transit countries in every region, at every stage of economic development, and across both established and emerging energy-system supply chains. The IEF advances global energy security through open and inclusive dialogue spanning all fuels, technologies, and systems.