Superpowers want to control critical mineral supplies — local communities need a stronger say

 The race of superpowers to regulate access to ‘critical minerals’ — such as cobalt, copper, lithium and rare-earth elements — poses enormous challenges to global stability. These minerals are crucial ingredients in batteries, electronics, solar panels and computer chips. And demand for them is soaring: it will more than quadruple by 2040 for clean-energy technologies alone (see go.nature.com/3zHuGNm). The United States, China and Europe are taking drastic steps to secure their supplies. In January, US President Donald Trump issued executive orders to promote domestic mining and processing of these essential minerals, as he did during his first term and as his predecessor, Joe Biden, did, too. Trump has even offered to buy mineral-rich Greenland, to the dismay of Denmark, of which the island is a territory. And he is calling on Ukraine to relinquish a large chunk of its critical minerals to the United States as part of a peace deal with Russia.