Demand for key minerals grows in net zero scenarios

Chief Europe Correspondent

Cipher is proud to make our journalism free for all to read and republish. Unless otherwise noted, you may republish our articles for free as long as you abide by our Creative Commons license and the following terms: 

  • Credit Cipher and any co-reporting partners. In the byline, we prefer “Author Name, Publication(s).” At the top of the text of your story, include a line that reads: “This story was originally published by Cipher.” You must link the word “Cipher” to the original URL of the story.
  • If you’re republishing online, you must link to the URL of this story on ciphernews.com, include all of the links from our story and use our PixelPing tag.
  • If you use canonical metadata, please use the Cipher URL. For more information about canonical metadata, refer to this Google SEO link.
  • You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. (For example, “yesterday” can be changed to “last week,” and “Portland, Ore.” to “Portland” or “here.”
  • For questions or help, please email [email protected] with the subject line: “Republishing.”
<header><h1>Demand for key minerals grows in net zero scenarios</h1><a href="" rel="author"></a><span class="title"></span><time rel="pubdate" datetime="2023-03-29T00:00:00-04:00">Mar 29, 2023</time></header><p>The world’s journey to a cleaner energy future will require a lot of metals and minerals. By mid-century, we will see a significant uptick in the amount of metals needed, as the chart based on <a href="https://about.bnef.com/blog/transition-metals-become-10-trillion-opportunity-as-demand-rises-and-supply-continues-to-lag/?utm_source=hs_email&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8Dzhux5NsbjV5YI-7DrObxfwNU_0rSR19gXZxSV5CAliCruWHzLqqFZ0P3xTRPPfw_IWMC" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-hs-link-id="1">BloombergNEF</a> data above shows.</p><div class="callout"> In a recent two-part explainer, we wrote about the <a href="https://ciphernews.com/?post_type=articles&amp;p=468&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical minerals</a> needed to power the clean energy transition and <a href="https://ciphernews.com/?post_type=articles&amp;p=454&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how to get them</a> in a responsible and sustainable way. </div><p>Volumes—represented by the different sizes of each of these bubbles—tell only one side of the story. The other side is how big of a role each metal plays in the transition itself.</p><p>For example, while clean energy technologies, such as power generation infrastructure, battery and storage equipment, require a high volume of steel, its use in this sector represents a small share compared to steel’s total demand in the overall economy.</p><p>In contrast, lithium volumes in the economy writ large are smaller, but most demand for the mineral by 2050 will be for the energy transition under a net zero scenario.</p>
Demand for key minerals grows in net zero scenarios

by  - 

March 29, 2023


The world’s journey to a cleaner energy future will require a lot of metals and minerals. By mid-century, we will see a significant uptick in the amount of metals needed, as the chart based on BloombergNEF data above shows.
 In a recent two-part explainer, we wrote about the critical minerals needed to power the clean energy transition and how to get them in a responsible and sustainable way. 
Volumes—represented by the different sizes of each of these bubbles—tell only one side of the story. The other side is how big of a role each metal plays in the transition itself.
For example, while clean energy technologies, such as power generation infrastructure, battery and storage equipment, require a high volume of steel, its use in this sector represents a small share compared to steel’s total demand in the overall economy.
In contrast, lithium volumes in the economy writ large are smaller, but most demand for the mineral by 2050 will be for the energy transition under a net zero scenario.