Monday 01 Dec 2025 @ 15:25
Chatham House
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The UK’s new critical minerals strategy is an ambitious step forward. Now it needs a champion

EXPERT COMMENT

The government’s ambitions are welcome, but require dedicated leadership and international support in order to succeed.

The new UK Critical Minerals Strategy, launched last weekend, is ambitious in scope – framing critical minerals as a foundation of the UK’s green growth and security agenda. 

The justification for the strategy is clear: critical minerals are integral to modern life, from communications, critical infrastructure, defence and renewable energy to electric cars and life sciences. The government identifies that by 2035 annual demand for copper in the UK will almost double, while demand for lithium will increase by 1,100 per cent. 

Yet, reliance on a global marketplace is no longer possible: COVID and the war in Ukraine have shown the vulnerability of supply chains; weaponized export controls are an increasing threat, made possible by the concentration of processing and mining supply chains, in particular by China.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.

 

Channel website: https://www.chathamhouse.org/

Original article link: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/11/uks-new-critical-minerals-strategy-ambitious-step-forward-now-it-needs-champion

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