The Future of the Clean-Energy Minerals in India: Issues and Challenges Out to 2050

Abstract

The role of clean-energy minerals (CEMs) in the modern non-carbon energy technology development is indispensable. The scarcity of CEM resources in India is a severe concern. Almost complete import dependence on CEM-producing countries makes India vulnerable to the supply risk that could arise due to various reasons. For example, for India to do business with countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and China could be challenging given the geopolitical issues India have with China and the internal political and economic crises DRC have within. Situations like this call for securing domestic CEM resources and strengthening the bilateral trade agreements with friendly nations. India needs to focus on investing heavily in the domestic exploration and acquiring overseas leases of CEMs. Research and development promotion are crucial to finding reliable substitutes for priority CEMs such as graphite, lithium and cobalt.