Decarbonizing Critical Mineral (CM) Supply Chains

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a leading multilateral organization that provides data, policy analysis, and cooperation on global energy, with a growing focus on clean energy transitions and climate solutions. As demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements accelerates, the emissions generated across their supply chains, especially in energy intensive mining and refining stages, risk undermining global climate goals and creating new environmental and geopolitical vulnerabilities. Decarbonizing these supply chains is therefore central to ensuring that the clean energy transition is truly low carbon from extraction to deployment, while remaining economically viable and resilient across regions.

In this Capstone, students will select several key critical minerals and map their global supply chains, identifying energy use and emissions hotspots from upstream mining to midstream refining and processing. They will collect and analyze quantitative data on emissions intensity, examine how factors such as ore quality, location, and technology choice shape climate impacts, and identify best practices and low carbon technologies already being deployed. Through case studies and expert interviews with industry, policymakers, and researchers, the team will develop a practical roadmap of near term, medium term, and longer term abatement options, highlighting policy, financial, and technological levers to reduce emissions and support cleaner critical mineral supply chains worldwide.