State of the Sector: Critical Energy Transition Minerals for India

The report examines the value chains of six critical energy transition minerals (CETMs): copper, lithium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, and silicon. It details global production and reserves, processing technologies, and the dominant role of China in refining and processing. For India, the document highlights a significant gap between domestic mineral resources and the demand required for low-carbon technologies, emphasizing the need for localized refining, increased private investment, and strategic international partnerships to reduce import dependence.

• Copper demand is projected to increase significantly to support the energy transition, with the International Energy Agency estimating a 45% increase by 2030, potentially leading to a 20% supply deficit of 6 million metric tonnes under the Net Zero Scenario.
• China maintains a dominant position in the processing of several CETMs, accounting for 42% of global refined copper production, 58% of lithium processing capacity, and 68% of global nickel refining.
• Lithium production is highly concentrated, with 90% of output coming from Australia, Chile, and China, and the market is vulnerable to disruptions due to its reliance on only 16 projects across these three countries.
• India's copper consumption is significantly lower than in developed nations, with per capita consumption of 0.5 kg in 2019-20 compared to a 10 kg average in developed countries, though demand is forecasted to grow by over 12% annually between 2022 and 2027.
• India has identified 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium resources in Jammu and Kashmir, representing about 6% of total identified global resources in 2023, but these are at an inferred G3 stage requiring further exploration.
• Indonesia has shifted its nickel strategy by banning raw ore exports to force domestic value addition, resulting in the country contributing over 38% of the global supply of refined nickel.
• India's rare earth element (REE) sector is characterized by a government monopoly held by Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), which has led to an underdeveloped midstream and downstream industry and a continued reliance on imported magnets.
• Silicon production is heavily concentrated in China, which accounted for nearly 68% of global production in 2022 and approximately 70% of global processing capacity.
• India lacks domestic manufacturing capacity for the photovoltaic (PV) value chain, specifically for polysilicon wafers, and relies primarily on imports from China.
• Manganese production is dominated by South Africa, which holds approximately 70% of global manganese resources.

APA

Chadha, R., Bansal, K., Sivamani, G., Goel, S., Moerenhout, T., Raizada, S., Jain, S., Haig, S., Kohli, P. C., Vazirzadeh, C., Goldar, A., Nair, K., Ali, M. S., Verma, R., Jain, R., Warrior, D., & Chandhok, V. (2025). State of the Sector: Critical Energy Transition Minerals for India. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-02/india-critical-energy-transition-minerals-volume-2.pdf

Chicago

Chadha, Rajesh, Karthik Bansal, Ganesh Sivamani, Siddharth Goel, Tom Moerenhout, Swasti Raizada, Saumya Jain, et al. State of the Sector: Critical Energy Transition Minerals for India. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2025. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-02/india-critical-energy-transition-minerals-volume-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{chadha2025state, author = {Chadha, Rajesh and Bansal, Karthik and Sivamani, Ganesh and Goel, Siddharth and Moerenhout, Tom and Raizada, Swasti and Jain, Saumya and Haig, Steven and Kohli, Pranati Chestha and Vazirzadeh, Cina and Goldar, Amrita and Nair, Kartik and Ali, Md Sarwar and Verma, Ritika and Jain, Rishabh and Warrior, Dhruv and Chandhok, Vibhuti}, title = {{State of the Sector: Critical Energy Transition Minerals for India}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-02/india-critical-energy-transition-minerals-volume-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }