Energy Transition, Mineral Resources and European Strategy to Secure Industrial Supplies: Constraints and Synergies

While the very reality of the energy transition is sometimes questioned, even challenged (Fressoz, 2023), the carryover effect it creates on mineral resources, highlighted by numerous forward-looking studies, appears indisputable. More copper, lithium, nickel, graphite or rare earths: these are the non-exhaustive conditions that will enable us to support the development of electromobility and renewable energies, and thus contribute to limiting global warming, in line with the commitments made during the 2015 Paris climate agreements. Beyond the obvious, this new paradigm intrinsically raises the question of how to define and optimize public and private policies that will enable, on the one hand, greater value to be added to the subsoil and industrial development of producing countries and, on the other, reduce supply constraints and the strategic dependence of importing nations. More fundamentally, it also raises questions about the willingness - indeed, the ability - of nations to move beyond bilateral strategies and engage in international negotiations on these resources, in parallel with those on climate change.