The energy transition is increasing the demand for basic materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper significantly. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported this week that the market for metals and minerals required to power electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, and other technologies essential to the energy transition has doubled over the past five years.
According to the report, investment in the development of critical minerals increased by 30 percent in 2022, following a 20 percent increase in 2021. Investment in lithium increased the most, by 50 percent, among individual commodities, followed by copper and nickel.
The volume of the market for critical minerals has recently touched approximately 320 billion US dollars (292.08 billion euros), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
If all planned critical minerals projects around the globe were implemented, supply could be sufficient to meet national climate targets set by governments to date, according to the IEA analysis.
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The IEA challenged the lack of competition on the market for finite resources. In doing so, it noted that the proportion of the top three producers on the global market for critical minerals has remained stable or increased since 2019, particularly in the case of nickel and cobalt.
