Carbon neutrality mission: India’s clean energy future hinges on access to critical minerals

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is moving fast on clean energy. Solar capacity is rising, electric vehicle (EV) sales are climbing and green hydrogen is now part of official strategy. But beneath this momentum sits a less visible constraint in the form of the materials required to build this future.

Without reliable access to lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper and rare earth elements, India’s energy transition risks slowing down. In early 2025, a series of disruptions exposed how vulnerable these supply chains are. Export restrictions widened across multiple minerals, including rare earth elements and battery metals.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s dominant cobalt supplier, temporarily suspended exports to stabilize prices. Meanwhile, China tightened controls on several critical inputs.These moves were not isolated. More than half of all key energy minerals are now subject to some form of export control, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), underscoring just how quickly markets can tighten when geopolitics intervenes.

The result was not a sustained shortage, but something more instructive. It was a supply shock in slow motion. Prices had already swung wildly.

Lithium prices rose eightfold in 2021-22 before falling sharply, only to face renewed uncertainty as investment slowed and policy risks rose. The lesson is clear. Even when markets appear well supplied, they are structurally fragile.

For India, this matters more than for most economies. A report by Niti Aayog has highlighted near-total import dependence for several critical minerals, including lithium and cobalt, at a time when demand is set to surge. Lithium demand alone could grow fivefold by 2040, while copper demand could rise