Growth Opportunities for Critical Raw Materials in a Clean Energy Transition

Growth Opportunities for Critical Raw Materials in a Clean Energy Transition



Critical raw materials (CRMs) are raw materials that are economically and strategically important for a country or region but have high risks associated with their supply. Criticality depends on various factors, and what counts as critical from a particular standpoint might not be the same from another standpoint. For instance, what might be critical for a solar panel might not be critical for a battery, and what might be considered critical for a particular country might not be critical for another, depending on the available resources and geopolitical scenarios.

This study examines recycling, substituting, and innovating in the mining and refining of particular CRMs that are key for the clean energy transition. Specifically, this study covers cobalt, lithium, copper, nickel, neodymium and dysprosium (the 2 most relevant rare earth materials), and manganese, looking at the ways they can be recovered from motors and generators, solar panels, transmission lines, and hydrogen electrolyzers.

The research describes different challenges involved with each of these materials, from both a mining and geopolitical and supply chain perspective. The analysis also looks at important regulations and policies, such as the European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act, the United States' Federal Strategy on Critical Minerals, and Canada's Critical Minerals Strategy.

Other areas covered in this research include established and emerging recycling methods for batteries, established and emerging recycling methods for rare earth elements, substitution potential in CRMs, and innovations in CRM mining and refining. Companies excelling in any of these areas are profiled. The study concludes with a discussion of the top growth opportunities in this space.


  • Strategic Imperatives
    • Why is it Increasingly Difficult to Grow?
    • The Strategic Imperative 8™
    • The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) for the Clean Energy Industry
    • Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine™
    • Frost & Sullivan Reports Related to CRMs and Electrification
    • Highlights
  • Growth Environment
    • Defining CRMs
    • Defining Criticality/Risk in the CRM Business Ecosystem
    • Scope
    • Critical Materials for the Transition
    • Extracting Materials from End-user Applications
    • The Role of CRMs in...
    • The Value Chain in the CRM Industry
    • Bottlenecks
    • CRMs, Projected Demand, and Deficits
    • The Mining Debate
  • Regulations and Policies
    • Introduction
    • The European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act
    • Other Relevant Policies on CRMs around the Globe
  • Recovery Potential in CRMs
    • Introduction
    • Summary of the Recycling Processes for Selected Clean Technologies
    • Established and Emerging Recycling Methods for Batteries
    • Established and Emerging Recycling Methods for REEs
    • Companies to Watch in CRM Recovery
  • Substitution Potential in CRMs
    • Alternative Technologies and Materials that Could Replace CRMs in Li-ion Batteries
    • Alternative Technologies that Could Replace REEs in Permanent Magnets
    • Companies to Watch in the CRM Substitution Space
  • Innovations in CRMs Mining and Refining
    • Innovations in CRM Production Along its Life Cycle
    • Innovation in CRM Production and Companies to Watch
  • Growth Opportunity Universe
    • Growth Opportunity 1: Battery Recycling
    • Growth Opportunity 2: Data Services Enabling Circularity
    • Growth Opportunity 3: Disassembly with Support from Cognitive Robotics and Machine Learning (ML)
    • Growth Opportunity 4: Reverse Logistics
    • Growth Opportunity 5: Local Mining Ecosystem
    • Growth Opportunity 6: Cobalt Recycling
  • Next Steps
    • Your Next Steps
    • Why Frost, Why Now?

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