DOE Publishes Critical Materials List

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published the  2023 DOE Critical Materials List. This list includes critical materials for energy, as determined by the Secretary of Energy pursuant to authority under the Energy Act of 2020, as well as those critical minerals on the 2022 final list published by the Secretary of Interior.

The methodologies employed by the USGS and DOE have several distinctions. While the USGS methodology is a supply-side approach that uses historical data to determine criticality within the context of the U.S. economy and national security, the DOE methodology is forward looking—incorporating global demand trajectories based on growth scenarios for various energy technologies, coupled with assumptions about the material intensity of those technologies, to determine criticality within the context of clean energy.

Section 7002(a)(2) of the Energy Act of 2020 defines “critical materials” to be: (A) Any non-fuel mineral, element, substance, or material that the Secretary of Energy determines (i) has high risk for supply chain disruption; and (ii) serves an essential function in one or more energy technologies, including technologies that produce, transmit, store, and conserve energy [referred to here as a critical material for energy]; or (B) a critical mineral [as designated by the Secretary of the Interior].

The Final 2023 DOE Critical Materials List includes  metals like aluminum, cobalt and copper as well as electrical steel (grain-oriented electrical steel, non-grain-oriented electrical steel, and amorphous steel).

The Secretary of the Interior published a 2022 final list of critical minerals that includes 50 minerals, from Aluminum and antimony, to yttrium, zinc, and zirconium.

[88 FR 51792]