The energy and digital transitions are two of the defining shifts of our era. Both depend on critical minerals — lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, copper, and more that today’s material system cannot reliably deliver at the scale or speed required.
Supply and processing capacity are geographically concentrated, and shortfalls for some materials are already projected by the mid-2030s. E-waste is the world's fastest-growing waste stream, and the vast majority of critical minerals embedded in it are never recovered. Meanwhile, approximately 20% of new cars sold globally were electric in 2024, with projections of 65-75% market share by 2050. AI infrastructure investment is creating another wave of hardware demand. The material requirements are enormous, and a linear take, make, waste approach will not deliver the transitions the world is depending on.
Keeping critical minerals in circulation is an economic imperative. ReuseReuseThe repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification., repairrepairOperation by which a faulty or broken product or component is returned back to a usable state to fulfil its intended use., refurbishment, and recovery reduce dependence on fragile supply chains, moderate the growth of virgin extraction, and build the resilience that the energy and digital sectors need. The decisions being made right now — about how products are designed, infrastructure built, and policy frameworks written — will lock in linear or circular patterns for decades. The window to shape those decisions is open, but not indefinitely.
The Foundation is working across two entry points where the case for circular intervention is strongest
EV batteries
Electronics
EV batteries are where the circular economyhas the greatest opportunity to intervene early, at scale, and with lasting effect. The first generation of electric vehicles will reach the end of their first life at scale from around 2030, creating both a challenge and a concrete opportunity to recover the minerals embedded in them. The Foundation's report, Leading the charge: Turning risk into reward with a circular economy for EV batteries and critical minerals, sets out the vision and identifies five high-leverage opportunity areas for cross-value chain collaboration. Work is now underway with automotive manufacturers, battery producers, recyclers, and policymakers to develop collaborative projects at the scale needed to generate proof points for policy.
The critical minerals landscape is crowded but fragmented. Governments, mining companies, manufacturers, recyclers, investors, and NGOs are all working on pieces of the problem, but systemic change is held back by inadequate policy, insufficient investment conditions, and linear business models that are still the default. The Foundation's role is to connect across those silos: linking the business opportunity to finance and policy at the moment when both are most consequential.
The choices being made now will determine whether the energy and digital transitions are built on circular or linear foundations. If you are a business, investor, or philanthropic funder who sees the strategic opportunity here, we want to hear from you.
Find out more about our work and how to get involved
The work ahead: Our strategy for scaling the circular economy
