Lead-In to Transition Metals & Minerals

🌱 What are transition metals and minerals?

A rapid transition over to renewable energies is needed in order to reach the goal of having net-zero emissions by the middle of this century. Yet, large quantities of metals and minerals — such as copper, lithium, and nickel — are needed for the production of batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines. In light of this, the metals and minerals needed to produce renewable energy technologies are sometimes referred to as “transition metals” or “transition minerals”.[i]

🌱 What metals and minerals are needed for the energy transition?

A variety of different metals and minerals are needed for the energy transition. Nickel, manganese, silicon, and silver are, for example, needed to produce solar panels. Iron and steel are needed for wind turbines. Batteries, in turn, require lithium and graphite for their production.[ii] Beyond this, there are also a lot of other metals and minerals that are relevant.

🌱 Is the energy transition increasing mining?

The energy transition comes hand-in-hand with the exploration and extraction of transition metals and minerals.[iii] All in all, it is estimated that the production of transition metals and minerals needs to be scaled up to around 28 million tons annually to stay under the threshold of a 2°C increase in global temperatures.[iv] It is, however, key to note that — due to the lower energy efficiency of fossil fuels and the continuous material and energy input required for a fossil fuel infrastructure — a fossil fuel economy would require significantly (roughly 500 to 1000 times) more mining than a renewable energy economy would.[v]

🌱 How do the mining footprints of renewables and fossil fuels compare?

Across the board, renewables have a far lower mining footprint than fossil fuels. This also holds true when the mining footprint of the battery storage for renewables is factored in. The mining footprint for coal is, for example, estimated to be roughly 26 times higher than for solar power. In line with this, shifting away “from coal power to any low-carbon source — solar, wind, or nuclear — would reduce the mining footprint of our electricity systems”.[vi]

Explore our module on transition mining here.

[i] Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, “You can’t eat lithium”: Community consent and access to information in transition mineral mining exploration. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/tmt-2021/you-cant-eat-lithium-community-consent-and-access-to-information-in-transition-mineral-mining-exploration-in-europe-and-north-america (21.08.2024); International Energy Agency: The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); World Bank Group: Climate-Smart Mining: Minerals for Climate Action. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/extractiveindustries/brief/climate-smart-mining-minerals-for-climate-action; Dolf Gielen: Critical Materials For The Energy Transition, International Renewable Energy Agency Technical Paper 5/2021. https://www.irena.org/-/media/Irena/Files/Technical-papers/IRENA_Critical_Materials_2021.pdf?rev=e4a9bdcb93614c6c8087024270a2871d (21.08.2024).

[ii] Hannah Ritchie, Low-carbon technologies need far less mining than fossil fuels. https://ourworldindata.org/low-carbon-technologies-need-far-less-mining-fossil-fuels (18.03.2025).

[iii] Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, “You can’t eat lithium”: Community consent and access to information in transition mineral mining exploration. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/tmt-2021/you-cant-eat-lithium-community-consent-and-access-to-information-in-transition-mineral-mining-exploration-in-europe-and-north-america (21.08.2024); International Energy Agency, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); World Bank Group, Climate-Smart Mining: Minerals for Climate Action. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/extractiveindustries/brief/climate-smart-mining-minerals-for-climate-action; Dolf Gielen, Critical Materials For The Energy Transition, International Renewable Energy Agency Technical Paper 5/2021. https://www.irena.org/-/media/Irena/Files/Technical-papers/IRENA_Critical_Materials_2021.pdf?rev=e4a9bdcb93614c6c8087024270a2871d(21.08.2024). See also: https://www.theewastecolumn.com/post/how-does-the-mining-of-critical-raw-materials-impact-forests-and-their-biodiversity (27.02.2025).

[iv] International Energy Agency, Mineral requirements for clean energy transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions/mineral-requirements-for-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); Carly Leonida, Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals through mining. https://theintelligentminer.com/2023/01/19/meeting-the-sustainable-development-goals-through-mining/; Fair Cobalt Alliance, WEF23 - Mining is key to a Just Energy Transition. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wef23-mining-key-just-energy-transition-fair-cobalt-alliance/?trackingId=TNmwTnUHTw2hNORNtkYpjg%3D%3D (21.08.2024); Hannah Ritchie, Mining quantities for low-carbon energy is hundreds to thousands of times lower than mining for fossil fuels. https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/mining-low-carbon-vs-fossil (21.08.2024); Michael Thomas, A Fossil Fuel Economy Requires 535x More Mining Than a Clean Energy Economy. https://www.distilled.earth/p/a-fossil-fuel-economy-requires-535x (21.08.2024); Tobiah Palm, Zeldzame metalen ontdekt in Zweden. ‘Europa heeft meer mijnbouw nodig’. https://www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid-economie/zeldzame-metalen-ontdekt-in-zweden-europa-heeft-meer-mijnbouw-nodig~b76e0051/ (21.08.2024). See also: https://www.theewastecolumn.com/post/how-does-the-mining-of-critical-raw-materials-impact-forests-and-their-biodiversity (27.02.2025).

[v] International Energy Agency, Mineral requirements for clean energy transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions/mineral-requirements-for-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); Carly Leonida, Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals through mining. https://theintelligentminer.com/2023/01/19/meeting-the-sustainable-development-goals-through-mining/; Fair Cobalt Alliance, WEF23 - Mining is key to a Just Energy Transition. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wef23-mining-key-just-energy-transition-fair-cobalt-alliance/?trackingId=TNmwTnUHTw2hNORNtkYpjg%3D%3D (21.08.2024); Hannah Ritchie, Mining quantities for low-carbon energy is hundreds to thousands of times lower than mining for fossil fuels. https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/mining-low-carbon-vs-fossil (21.08.2024); Michael Thomas, A Fossil Fuel Economy Requires 535x More Mining Than a Clean Energy Economy. https://www.distilled.earth/p/a-fossil-fuel-economy-requires-535x (21.08.2024); Tobiah Palm, Zeldzame metalen ontdekt in Zweden. ‘Europa heeft meer mijnbouw nodig’. https://www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid-economie/zeldzame-metalen-ontdekt-in-zweden-europa-heeft-meer-mijnbouw-nodig~b76e0051/ (21.08.2024). See also: https://www.theewastecolumn.com/post/how-does-the-mining-of-critical-raw-materials-impact-forests-and-their-biodiversity (27.02.2025).

[vi] Hannah Ritchie, Low-carbon technologies need far less mining than fossil fuels. https://ourworldindata.org/low-carbon-technologies-need-far-less-mining-fossil-fuels (18.03.2025).