Sustainability, Geopolitics and Critical Mineral Supply Chains

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines how European companies manage the trade-offs between sustainability, competitiveness, and geopolitical risk within critical raw material (CRM) supply chains, highlighting the gap between policy goals and practical implementation.

• European firms are increasingly adopting structured sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices due to a growing business case for sustainability, yet they are hindered by price competition, import dependencies, and limited leverage over their suppliers.
• While regulatory tools such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive are prompting changes in corporate behavior, their overall impact is limited by uncertainty and gaps in governance.
• There is a practical difficulty in simultaneously achieving policy objectives for sustainability, competitiveness, and geopolitical resilience, suggesting a requirement for more coherent frameworks that operate across different regions to ensure responsible CRM supply chains.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2025). Sustainability, Geopolitics and Critical Mineral Supply Chains. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-geopolitics-critical-mineral-supply-chains/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Sustainability, Geopolitics and Critical Mineral Supply Chains. 2025. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-geopolitics-critical-mineral-supply-chains/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Sustainability, Geopolitics and Critical Mineral Supply Chains |date=24 October 2025 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-geopolitics-critical-mineral-supply-chains/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2025sustainability, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Sustainability, Geopolitics and Critical Mineral Supply Chains}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-geopolitics-critical-mineral-supply-chains/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }