Role of Minerals in Global Energy Transition

Renewable energy is energy derived from renewable resources that are renewed naturally on a human timeline. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. The reliable use of these resources has the least environmental effect, produces the least secondary waste, and is sustainable in terms of present and future economic and social demands. Renewable energy technologies provide a tremendous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global warming by substituting traditional energy sources. A lot of countries now rely on renewable energy for more than 20% of their energy supply, with some generating more than half of their power from renewables. And statistics show that it will continue to grow year by year. In contrast to fossil fuels, which are concentrated in a small number of nations, renewable energy supplies occur throughout large geographical regions. International public surveys state that there is solid support for renewables such as solar and wind power. But at the same time, it is connected with lots of issues and challenges and it will be a long way to reach net-zero carbon emissions in recent years to come. The success of the global energy transition will rely on renewable technologies, as well as on the availability of the necessary minerals and metals: the future access to several critical materials, the ability to ramp up the materials supply and fast enough production, the rising cost of such materials, and the geopolitical and strategic implications of new resource dependencies. Moreover, some concerns have been raised that the energy return on investment may be on the rise and could become an issue in the energy transition, as it could result in additional carbon dioxide emissions. This labor is dedicated to the main challenges of the global energy transition. It clearly shows the trends in the global energy consumption, stresses and issues of energy demand, strategies of the main policy-makers on energy transition, the role of power generation in the global energy supply chain. Since the topic of the energy transition is becoming more and more actual for the world’s development, the number of challenges we, as a humanity, have to meet and successfully solve is drastically growing. This work is trying to explain how we can do it. The biggest part of this labor is dedicated to the mineral demand, its importance in global energy supply and consumption, main issues and states. Moreover, the main minerals needed for the energy transition to be successful were listed. Top 5 minerals were chosen as the elements which could potentially meet fast-rising energy challenges. Next, the comparison table was developed and, on the basis of it, the key challenges for 5 critical minerals were distinguished. In the end, the results of the findings are controversial, since the global mineral industry is very complex and unpredictable. During this work, the experience of the leading companies and scientists in the sphere of energy transition was analyzed and structured. Moreover, the most recent articles were used to unite all the information available to let this work be modern and cutting-edge.