Chapter 10: Epilogue – Critical Materials and Globalisation

This chapter starts by describing how, in recent decades, manufacture of consumer goods and equipment was relocated from developed economies to locations where costs were lower. But the war between Russia and Ukraine that began in 2022 showed that global supply chains could be easily disrupted. The chapter stresses that China has built up its ability over decades to extract, refine and fabricate components such as powerful permanent magnets that contain critical materials and lithium-ion batteries. Critical materials have a key role in attaining a clean energy future, that is, in reaching a net-zero world economy. Moreover, whoever controls the supply of critical materials may enhance their economic power over competitors in the 21st century. It ends with a warning for the development of a clean energy future in the 21st century that depends on the supply of critical materials. First, the demand for critical materials may end globalisation and, second, lead to economic conflict between countries.