Critical materials are non-fuel minerals and substances that are essential inputs to modern energy technologies but whose supply chains are vulnerable to disruption. These minerals — from battery feedstocks and rare earths to specialty metals and industrial inputs — underpin wind turbines, electric vehicles, energy storage, advanced electronics, and many other clean-energy and strategic technologies. Because extraction, processing, and refining are often concentrated in a few regions, geopolitical events, trade restrictions, or bottlenecks can rapidly affect availability, project timelines, and costs. The U.S. Department of Energy assesses these minerals to help guide research, recycling, and supply-diversification efforts that bolster long-term energy resilience.

DOE evaluates material criticality across different time horizons (short and medium) to separate near-term supply shocks from structural risks that emerge over planning and investment cycles. Short-term assessments capture immediate vulnerabilities and transient disruptions, while medium-term analysis highlights risks that affect policy, manufacturing scale-up, and infrastructure decisions. This widget focuses on the medium-term perspective (the relevant planning window for many energy and industrial investments), so it highlights materials whose supply and demand dynamics are likely to matter for the coming policy and deployment horizon. The underlying matrix is informed by the 2023 DOE Critical Materials Assessment and analysis of metallurgical coal for steelmaking.