// ENERGY, CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY: ENERGY
Critical minerals supply in uncertain times
G 7 leaders are meeting to discuss critical minerals security this year in a geopolitical context of great uncertainty. In 2023, when G7 climate, energy and environment ministers agreed to a Five-Point Plan for Critical Minerals Security in Sapporo, threats to climate, energy security and prosperity loomed over the meeting. The need for secure, diversified and responsible sourcing of critical minerals is now even more urgent as ongoing conflicts, fires and floods destroy lives and habitats. Yet the bedrock of commitments to international cooperation on climate, trade and security alliances has been shaken in 2025. On this unstable ground, G7 leaders at Kananaskis will need to renew and extend the plan for responsible production and sourcing of critical minerals.
Despite an increasingly fractured approach to climate and energy security, responsible pathways for the sourcing and production of critical minerals can still be forged. As G7 leaders meet in Kananaskis, strengthening cooperation on secure and sustainable mineral supply chains is a must
Kathryn Sturman, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland
THE STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE OF CRITICAL MINERALS
Why does the world need critical minerals in greater quantities, and which do we need? Critical minerals are essential for energy storage in batteries for electric vehicles and for renewable energy systems, such as solar panels and wind turbines. In an increasingly polarised and insecure geopolitical context, critical minerals are also needed for advanced defence technologies and to secure telecommu- nications infrastructure. Depending on the technology, batteries need varying amounts of lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt, as well as phosphates for lithium-iron phosphate batteries. Graphite is needed for solar panels, aluminium for wind turbines and large amounts of copper for electrification. China has recently placed export controls on minerals used primarily in defence applications, such as tungsten, tellurium, indium and molybdenum, and for semiconductor production, such as gallium, germanium and antimony.
102 // G7 CANADA: THE KANANASKIS SUMMIT 2025
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