"For more than a decade, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has funded basic and applied research and
development (R&D) related to critical materials to address the scientific and technological (S&T) challenges
that underpin supply chain vulnerabilities. These investments were made possible through the first DOE
Critical Materials Strategy in 2010. This included the first DOE Critical Materials Assessment – identifying
which materials were critical for clean energy technologies. It also defined the pillars that form the foundation
of the DOE research strategy that guided these investments.
The Energy Act of 2020 expanded DOE authorities to address critical materials challenges through a Critical
Materials Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercialization Application (RDD&CA) Program.
The Critical Materials RDD&CA Program allows DOE to invest across the entire research continuum and
supply chain. Through the Critical Materials RDD&CA Program, DOE implements the DOE Vision and
Strategy for Critical Minerals and Materials (CMM):
Vision:
• Develop reliable, resilient, affordable, diverse, sustainable, and secure domestic critical mineral and
materials supply chains,
• support the clean energy transition and decarbonization of the energy, manufacturing, and
transportation economies, and
• promote safe, sustainable, economic, and environmentally just solutions to meet current and future
needs.
Strategy:
• Diversify & Expand Supply: Diversify and expand critical mineral and material supply from varying
sources while minimizing waste and increasing techno-economic coproduction of materials – to ensure
material availability;
• Develop Alternatives: Innovate alternative materials and/or manufacturing components – reduce
demand and partially offset the need for virgin materials;
• Materials and Manufacturing Efficiency: Use and process materials efficiently across the entire
supply chain and life cycle – to reduce waste;
• Circular Economy: Remanufacture, refurbish, repair, reuse, recycle, and repurpose – to extend the
lifetime of materials and partially offset the need for virgin materials;
• Enabling Activities: Cross-cutting functions, such as criticality assessments, stockpiling, international
engagement, market development, and advanced theoretical, computational, and experimental tools – to
accelerate progress.
The 2023 Critical Materials Assessment will enable DOE to set priorities for investments through the Critical
Materials RDD&CA, continuing advancements in S&T innovation in combination with expanded focus on derisking and deploying commercialization technologies to build and transform domestic supply chains..."
Critical Materials
