Critical Mass – The new battle for energy supremacy

This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler

Podmasters

News, Society & Culture, Politics

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the world pivots from fossil fuels and demand for electricity rises, who will control the new levers of power? The critical minerals and rare earths that tech depends on are the ultimate resources in a new “Great Game” between China, the US, Europe and Russia. What does the race to control the supply of these minerals mean for the future of the environment, security and global competition? To unpack the geopolitics of future energy supply and rare earths, Emma Beals is joined by Dr Patrick Schröder, senior research fellow at the Environment and Society Centre, Chatham House. • This episode of This Is Not A Drill is supported by Incogni the service that keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – go to https://incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. • Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. Written and presented by Emma Beals. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oil and gas have featured highly in the recent history of global conflict.
0:10.2	Competition over these resources that power our modern lives has kept the US in the Middle
0:15.5	East for decades, saw Europe shocked at the start of the Ukraine war and has led to dramatic changes in their climate
0:22.7	that have led to the urgent need to transition our energy supply
0:26.0	to more sustainable methods.
0:28.2	But there are resources driving the transition too,
0:30.8	and they've become headline news lately,
0:32.8	after China, who control much of their supply,
0:35.7	slapped restrictions on them during their trade war
0:37.9	with the US.
0:39.8	Elsewhere, conflict-affected states are seeing their resources plundered, driving conflict
0:44.9	and extracting wealth.
0:46.8	So is the future of energy supply the clean, green, happy story we hoped it might be?
0:51.9	Or are we heading towards the same fraught and extractive resource
0:55.0	competition we've seen before? I'm Emma Beals, and this is not a drill. Critical minerals and rare earths are vital to a whole range of products,
1:26.7	from the tech we use
1:27.6	every day to solar panels and even weapons. And as demand for electricity rises and the need
1:33.5	to transition away from oil and gas increases, the race to acquire and control the supply of these
1:38.8	minerals is heating up. China has been at it for a while and played their controlling card recently.
1:44.9	Meanwhile, conflict-affected states and indigenous communities are vulnerable to the whims of
1:49.3	mining companies and great powers alike.
1:52.3	It seems we're repeating the mistakes of the past all over again, but to unpack these
	...

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