United Kingdom Critical Minerals Strategy Advances to Drive Nation's Energy Transition
The UK Government is advancing its Vision 2035 Critical Minerals Strategy, a long-term initiative intended to secure supplies of critical minerals needed for the country’s energy transition, advanced manufacturing and national security objectives. The strategy identifies critical minerals as essential inputs for electric vehicle batteries, offshore wind generation, energy storage, hydrogen technologies and other clean energy sectors.
As part of the strategy, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) announced that up to £50 million in funding will be made available to support critical mineral projects, including research, innovation, commercialization, processing and recycling activities. The government is also seeking to expand domestic production where feasible, strengthen refining and midstream processing capabilities and encourage investment in circular economy initiatives focused on mineral recovery and recycling.
This strategy comes amid growing concerns regarding global supply chain concentration and increasing demand for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, tungsten and rare earth elements. UK officials have emphasized that resilient access to critical minerals will be necessary to support Clean Power 2030 objectives, electric vehicle manufacturing, battery production and future energy infrastructure development.
This initiative presents potential opportunities for U.S. companies involved in mining technologies, mineral processing, refining equipment, battery materials, recycling technologies, geological services, supply chain traceability and critical minerals project development.
If your company provides technologies or services related to critical minerals, battery supply chains or clean energy manufacturing or if you would like to learn more about energy transition opportunities in the UK, please contact Leah Kollhoff, Commercial Specialist at the U.S. Embassy London via Leah.Kollhoff@trade.gov.