From Oil To Critical Minerals: The Next Energy Security Risk

The clean energy transition can reduce exposure to oil shocks, but it also creates new dependence on critical minerals and refining networks.

Supplies of key materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, rare earths, and aluminum are highly concentrated globally.

China’s dominance in processing and permanent magnets gives it outsized leverage over clean-energy supply chains.

Disruptions to trade routes or mineral flows could become a new energy-security risk as electrification and EV deployment accelerate.