Essay by Eric Worrall
Apparently the USA has to stay dependent on China for Rare Earths, otherwise the planet will suffer a climate catastrophe.
Global race to secure critical minerals for weapons threatens climate, warns report
Study reveals US earmarked billions to stockpile critical minerals for military use, including precision-guided weaponry and AI-driven warfare
Matthew Taylor and Oliver Milman
Thu 4 Dec 2025 23.00 AEDTThe accelerating global arms race is hindering climate action as critical minerals that are key to a sustainable future are being diverted to make the latest military hardware, according to a report
The study from the Transition Security Project – a joint US and UK venture – reveals how the Pentagon is stockpiling huge stores of critical minerals that are needed for a range of climate technologies including solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and battery storage.
It found that since the US president, Donald Trump, passed his “one big beautiful bill” earlier this year, the Pentagon – through its National Defense Stockpile programme – has earmarked billions of dollars to secure a growing list of critical minerals for use in military hardware – from precision-guided weaponry and advanced communication systems to an emerging arsenal of military technologies such as “AI-driven autonomous warfare platforms”.
Khem Rogaly, co-director of Transition Security Project, said: “The Pentagon’s trillion dollar budget supports a global infrastructure designed for US military domination, not national security. Using precious resources to feed the expanding military industrial complex, rather than addressing the existential threat of the climate crisis, demonstrates the global insecurity produced by the Pentagon.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/04/critical-minerals-military-us-pentagon-climate-crisis
The executive summary of the study;
Mining for War: Assessing the Pentagon’s Mineral Stockpile
How can the Pentagon’s energy transition mineral stockpiles be repurposed toward the green transition?
4 December 2025
Lorah SteichenExecutive Summary
Driven by concerns about supply chain vulnerabilities amid escalating great power competition with China, the Pentagon is accelerating efforts to secure access to the so-called critical minerals, which are essential to military industries. Central to this push is a ramped-up effort to stockpile these materials within the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) National Defense Stockpile. The Pentagon’s expanding demand for critical minerals risks diverting vital resources away from civilian decarbonisation initiatives and accelerating militarised competition at a time when global collaboration is essential for a just climate transition. When industrial strategy is shaped by military and national security priorities, it not only entrenches geopolitical conflict but also distorts pathways for equitable climate action, redirecting public resources and state capacity away from the broader demands of rapid and just decarbonisation. This briefing examines how the Pentagon’s role in mineral supply chains, particularly through stockpiling, challenges the global energy transition.
Key findings:
- Since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which earmarked billions of dollars to bolster the National Defense Stockpile, the DLA has solicited contracts to stockpile a growing list of critical minerals, including several materials essential to the energy transition.
- The DLA plans to stockpile almost 7,500 metric tons of cobalt. That amount of cobalt could be used instead to produce 80.2 gigawatt hours of battery capacity — more than double existing energy storage.
- The DLA’s planned cobalt and graphite stockpiles could be used instead to produce approximately 100,000 electric buses — fifteen times more than are currently in operation across the United States.
…
Read more: https://transitionsecurity.org/mining-for-war/
One of the recommendations is to improve relations with China, rather than trying to secure independent sources of critical minerals;
…
4. Foster global solidarity
Build international cooperation, including coordination with China on climate technology collaboration to reduce duplication in supply chains, lower mining demand and ease geopolitical tensions impacting mineral markets.
…
Read more: same link as above
The About Page of Transition Security Project, a group I never heard of before, contains the following acknowledgement: We are grateful for the support of Polden Puckham Charitable Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. We only accept funding from charitable foundations and trade unions.
The Polden Puckham Charitable Foundation seems to be a small affair, but one of the biggest donors to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust in 2024 was the UK branch of DeSmog. Desmog is a significant international green energy pressure group founded by James Hoggan.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the third listed contributor, has some interesting connections to China according to the Washington Examiner.
Rockefeller Brothers Fund spent past four years pumping cash into Chinese government-linked groups
The primary philanthropic arm of the influential Rockefeller family has given millions of dollars to arms of the Chinese government as well as organizations with strong links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Between April 2020 and August 2024, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund donated $7.4 million to organizations that are either part of the Chinese government, led by members of the CCP, or engaged in partnerships with China, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of grant records. The bulk of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s philanthropic activity in China went toward assisting Beijing in meeting its goals for green energy production and transition.
…
Read more: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3248834/rockefeller-brothers-fund-cash-chinese-government-linked-groups/
I’m not accusing Transition Security of writing a report to order for China. From what I saw when living in Britain, most UK academics live and breath hatred and contempt for the USA, and admiration for China. Such sentiments are very much a mainstream view in UK academia, just as they are in some sectors of US academia. There are plenty of Western academics who would willingly express such views as honestly held opinions.
It does however seem interesting that money from an organisation with apparent strong links to China, along with money from a green energy linked organisation, may be filtering through into the hands of Western academics who express support for globalist policies which would hurt the USA and benefit China.
But I’m sure it is just one of those coincidences, right?
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“The USA Securing Critical Mineral Supply Chains Threatens the Global Climate” Good, sooner their lies are in the toilet the better for the entire Human Race.
In other words place such a kink in the supply chain that only 1 country (China) produces ALL critical minerals and can force their governmental system on the rest of the world to allow external supplies.
Duplication in supply chains is what fosters competition and prevents the potential stranglehold of any one nation over the rest of the world.
No government system is the best, otherwise it would have supplanted all others over the past 10,000 years or so. The Chinese government system seems to have changed over the millennia, centuries, decades, and maybe even year to year.
The US (with 5% of the world’s population) might think their system is the best. The world’s largest democracy India (around 18% of the world’s population) might think theirs is the best. Or even China, about the same population as India, might think theirs is!
The Chinese government refers to its system as “whole-process people’s democracy”. I believe that China has banned 2 political parties, leaving 8 (apart from the CCP) not banned. The US has only banned one, but has around a third of the Chinese population, so it’s punching above its weight. Mind you, trying to set up a National Socialist (Nazi) party in the US might not be easy.
I am curious why you think the Chinese system is “worse” than any of the others? Racism? Fear of the unknown? I think all forms of government are imperfect, but that’s because people are involved.
What do you think?
The best system is the one that promotes individual liberty and limited government powers, inalienable God given rights, not subject to Goverment power, operating in a moral culture. The US should try it again!
Government power draws psychopathic individuals to power like moths to the flame.
David, that seems fair. Better than appointing the winners of a beauty contest to run a country.
Speaking of which, where are the Somalis in all of this?
Seems to me there used to be a great deal of mining in Somalia, Ethiopia, hell, the whole east/northeast of Africa. Keeping a string of “nations” in continual collapse and internecine warfare would be a great way to keep anyone from accessing all those mineral resources. At that I bet Afghanistan/Pakistan could supply to world in all manner of mineral resources. Who, precisely, would gain from blocking the world from all of that? Hmmm, it is a conundrum!
With deep seated Islamists ideology, and an average IQ bordering on special ed, nowhere good.
David, during the Battle of Mogadishu (BlackHawk Down), Army Rangers and Delta Force members were given a good thrashing America suffered the most casualties in a single battle since the Vietnam War.
The US Army, however, considered the battle a tactical success, followed shortly after by the withdrawal of uninvited US forces from Somalia. The US decided that their best specialised forces were apparently no match for Somalis with deep seated Islamists ideology, and an average IQ bordering on special ed. Not to say carrying inferior ex-Soviet light arms and RPGs.
Or do you think the US withdrew its heavily armed forces because the Somalis didn’t show sufficient gratitude for being “helped”?<g>
Minnesota, living off the fat of the land.
Oh, come . . . the minerals supply chain domination was thought through wayyy before the rest of us even began to think coherently on the matter. Just observe this:
China’s refined production of metals and minerals required for the construction of ALL “renewable” equipment is overwhelming (% of world production):
Graphite: 99%; manganese: 95%; rare earths: 90%; antimony: 70%; cobalt: 70%; lithium: 65%; aluminium: 60%; copper: 40%; nickel: 40%.
If anybody believes this wasn’t foreseen and deliberately planned on the part of the Chinese, well, these will be people of very little if any value.
The thing is, the meticulous step-by-step process that governs mining prospecting and development internationally (minus China and Russia), will not be able to accelerate domestic or allied production of any and all metals and minerals. The only way acceleration could happen is if governments provide free capital . . . which results in at least some of these critical minerals being produced, albeit far from economic viability.
“Khem Rogaly, co-director of Transition Security Project, said: “The Pentagon’s trillion dollar budget supports a global infrastructure designed for US military domination, not national security”
____________________________________________________________________________
US military domination IS national security !
So other countries don’t have national security ?
Oher countries can do what they want. Attacking the United States wouldn’t be a wise choice though because the U.S. would dominate in any such in any such conflict. Teddy Roosevelt’s “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” applies. Khem Rogaly appears to have more interest in addressing the existential threat of “The Climate Crisis”
How ’bout you, do you want to have a strong military for defense or do you want to put up more wind mills, more solar panels, sequester CO2, feed Bovaer to cattle, and ban nitrogenous fertilizers?
Please – when was your country ever attacked aside of 9/11(Id recommend “Architect and Engineers for 9/11 truth” for starters) and USS Liberty,
and in the latter situation your country behaved like a beaten dog and kept the mouth shut.
So what are you actually talking about?
It’s the USA that is attacking other countries 99% of the time.
The only real threat your country is facing outside a nuclear conflict is 100% from inside(Cloward-Piven strategy) – by the same guys who were flirting with a nuclear conflict not so long ago.
You for sure don’t need 800 military bases world wide(which is as globalist as a thing can be)
and your country has a military budget that is twice as high as Russias and Chinas combined.
You don’t need to waste trillions for green energy, neither do you need to waste
trillions for the military.
You can cut the spending in half and would still be way ahead of any competition.
Why is your critical thinking inexistent when it comes to war?
Other countries are threatening your national security as much as co2 does.
Considering that the US was dragged into 2 World Wars because Europe couldn’t get their act together…
Pearl Harbor. Ever heard of it?
And Hitler declared war on the U.S. a day or two later if I recall my history correctly.
Generally speaking, democracies tend not to be ones that start wars. Authoritarian govts and terror groups (Hamas) seem to start wars much or most of the time.
Yes, it’s in Hawaii, isn’t it? Another disaster the best and brightest didn’t see coming, exhibiting smug complacency instead.
But not to worry, the US exterminated a few hundred thousand civilians with a couple of big bombs, causing a bigger conflagration than the terror bombing of the civilian city of Dresden, with far more civilian casualties. Many Japanese senior officers promptly committed seppuku after the Emperor decided that barbarians using weapons of mass destruction needed to be placated, to avoid further civilian bloodshed. The Japanese military thought the US never conquer a determined Japan.
You can see why I have to grin a little when the US boasts about killing the helpless survivors of an attack on possibly unarmed civilians heading towards another country.
Apparently the US was worried about being attacked by two “narco terrorists” treading water, or possibly terrified at the thought of Americans buying drugs coming through the EU.
Maybe the US can threaten to attack the EU? Along with threats to bomb Venezuela and Colombia, Gaza, Iran and a few others, the US has threaten to invade Greenland, Canada, and Panama.
Not threatening to attack anyone who could fight back, though. China, Russia, North Korea, etc.
All fun, isn’t it?
As systems have grown, local to national to international, so have corporations – governments, communication and corruption. The US mafia infected local police forces and local governments.
So it is natural that criminal cartels have grown into international crime syndicates , drug operations, ( 100,000 US deaths) of course, sex trafficking, child trafficking, etc, but also Goverment corruption on local state and national levels, both foreighn and domestic. So Trump is shutting down the Cartels and their allies. Now Obama killed hundreds of innocent civillians, and US citizens including women and children, for years, and not a peep. Trump executed some Cartel terrorists, and the inane blind media only attacks, and like you with no evidence of any sign or understanding of the bigger picture,
Panama for instances was thwarting China and reasserting a traditional US postion. I do not think you are a simplistic dunce, yet you are very one sided, over confident and completely lacking nuance in your statements.
You’re probably right. I prefer my opinion to that of others, because mine is supported by facts (as far as I know). Just very confident, and I don’t see how one can be “over confident”, any more than one can be “over content”.
I leave “nuances” to others. I take”nuances” as an indication of an ignorant and gullible person trying to insinuate something that is not true, and shouting “I didn’t say that!” if their opponent falls for the “nuance”, and objects.
So yes, I say what I think, and provide facts to support my opinions. You’ll notice that very few other commenters have the courtesy to quote the words they find so disagreeable, and provide facts to support their disagreement. I don’t mind, and I assess the opinions of such ignorant and gullible dimwits as having little to no value.
Thanks for your comment – I don’t think I am a dunce, either, so that makes two of us.<g>
He never heard of the history of the world. A – the US strong military is why it is only attacked on the ideology front and from within. B – The US military was greatly weakened under Obama Biden, witness Afganistan, Biden supplying the Taliban with 80 percent of their weapons, LGBT and diversity policy, massuve military supply chain problems, etc. C – Furthermore delivery technology of nuclear weapons by China and even Russia has exceeded US development, threatening MAD, a sad but necessary policy. Our drone tech and modern warfare us NOT ahead. The US is not ” way ahead of the competition”
Yes waste fraud and abuse is rampant in all US systems, including the military, and is being addressed by the Trump administration, yet fixing the Obama Biden screw ups, massive poorly designed military spending, leaving many billions of dollars of hardware in Afghanistan the ME divisive disaster and support of the Muslim Brotherhood, destablation and Syria disaster, and Ukraine foreign policy, is insanely expensive.
“Id recommend “Architect and Engineers for 9/11 truth” for starters”
Oh boy.
Exactly, a sign of extreme one sided reading…
Of course they can. And more are, which seems reasonable. That’s why they build nuclear fission and fusion bombs, nuclear submarines, hypersonic missiles, spy satellites, and all the rest. For self defense, of course.
The 95% of the population which is not the US has discovered that the US tends to attack enemies who have limited abilities to respond in kind. For example, the North Korean airforce consisted of old Soviet propeller driven aircraft. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan – the US managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on more than one occasion.
Who would want to attack the US? What would you do with it if you “won”? Replace the Spanish language with Mandarin? Allow the import of Chinese cars? Upgrade the military?
Just having a bit of fun. You are free to express your opinion, which I assess as inferior to mine.Sorry about that.
The US has defended the national security of other countries for 100+ years. Read a history book!
Muahahaha – the USA has not only destroyed the national security of dozens of countries,it destroyed the countries themselves – and always based on lies.
Wether we talk Vietnam (the Tonkin Incident that never was),
Iraq(WMD’ s,Yellow cake lies)
Lybia (scorched earth lie) including deliberate destruction of civil infrastructure (Lybias great water project)
Yugoslavia (Horseshoe plan lie),
then Panama, Guatemala,
direct involvement in Ukraine coup 2014 (We invested 5 billion in Ukraine – Nuland// We brokered the Ukraine Revolution – Obama)
and were preemptively caught installing their puppets (Yazenyuk is our man – Nuland// Yazenyuk became later Ukraines prime minister)
the national security of Ukraine was so much respected by the US that Janukovitsch was illegally forced out of government as even after the coup they failed to get the 2/3 vote to remove him legally.
You forced the Haitian president Aristide onto a plane whenyou removed him the 2nd time.
USA has respected Russias sovereignty so much that they broke their promise to not extend NATO a dozen+ times by now.(if things were the other way around your country would have gone full scale war at the very first time )
And besides that all the stealth coups and government changes your country was involved in – Read Perkins ” Economic Hitman” for starters.
You created the Contras in Nicaragua – a 100% artificial thing, as the existing regime didn’t even had the time to make enemies after the hated Somoza dictatorship was kicked out(Where did the Somoza clan fled? – to its bosses = USA, just as Marcos did after Phillipines kicked him out, just as the leader of woke Islam,Gullen, did after turks kicked him out)
You even had your own school for dictators – School of the Americas.
” The School of the Americas has created more dictators
than anyone else in history of mankind”
Congressman JP Kennedy.
And what was the reason those dictators were installed.
National Security – of course.
And what have you learned after all these years –
even less than co2 contributes to warming.
If you’d only use 10% of the critical attitude you have towards AGW you’d know that your military budget is totally insane and that national security is just a codeword to push the plans of globalist billionaires and to extend or at least maintain hegemony.
Research Smedley Butler and the Wall Street Coup and find out what happened to the only real national security threat(besides Epsteins videos) your country has faced and what happened to these people
then you’ll know about ” national security”
How do you tell people you are a leftarded idiot without saying it? You just did.
You are correct about Obama and the Ukraine and Obama ME policy, after that you veer from gross misunderstandings into pure propaganda.
Good report, Eric. Are you wondering if someone is so stupid to say these kinds of things for free. or are they just more Paid Liars? Follow the money!
I actually do think they’re stupid enough to say these kinds of things for free, because I’ve seen British academics say such things in person, and say them with the confidence of someone who knows most of their audience agrees with their views. But extra money helps pay the bills.
Climate action
Climate action is a wholly non-scientific, political term that refers to a range of activities, mechanisms, policy instruments etc. Why is climate action any more valid a concept than climate justice; which just happens to be utterly nonsensical, and demonstrably so?
The UK government is totally subservient to China – to the point of deliberately spiking a Chinese spy trial.
Keir Starmer knew Chinese spy trial was poised to collapse but did nothing to stop it, admits No10 – The Sun
Then we have the proposed “Super Embassy” – with the plans for the basement of the complex entirely redacted.
Xi says jump and Keir asks how hai – geddit…
The opposite of the nineteenth century, when China was totally subservient to Britain. Obviously, the British were addicted to tea, and there were a couple of Opium wars which may have something to do with opium which the British forced China to buy.
Of course, the French, and the Russians chipped in, and even though America hung around to see which way the wind blew, it eventually put its hand up for a “slice of the Chinese melon”.
For the times they are a-changin’. I’ll keep my head down and my powder dry, and cheer the victor if I have to.
80.2 GWh of Battery storage is literally 40 hours (1.6 days) of typical Diablo Canyon production. Talk about a Nothing Burger without a side of Fries.
It could power 800,000 new Teslas. Would 800,000 new Teslas make the USA more secure against outside antagonist nations?
I agree with President Trump in that those certain minerals should be reserved for National Protection and definitely NOT used as an Antagonist Nation (China) deems it should be.
How many Chinese were involved in the making of this report? See Chinese influence on NY’s Governor if there are questions.
So just ignore China’s massive military buildup and plan for a rosy future instead? Forget the UK, they are so far down the Marxist rabbit hole only a miracle/revolution can save them.
Why not? Let them go broke making things that go “bang”, and spend your own money on things like medical care, education, law enforcement and so on. The Chinese population will become so envious that they will throw off their shackles, and revert to peasantry, and a brutish and miserable existence, with lower living standards.
Or do you want to follow the Chinese example, and have your own massive military buildup? You better start now, it might be a case of catch up, if you’re not quick enough.
“designed for US military domination”
Some nation will always be the dominate nation on this planet- best that it’s the US.
“From what I saw when living in Britain, most UK academics live and breath hatred and contempt for the USA, and admiration for China.”
They were a lot happier when the British Empire was the greatest power on Earth. They were smarter too.
Building up the US (and allied) mineral supply chain would also build the infrastructure needed to supply the US “renewable” energy supply chain and the electric distribution system, as well as the electronics & data center supply chain which increase supplies and lower costs.
China is also well known to use highly polluting mining and manufacturing processes, but that is apparently not an environmental issue. In addition, US production clearly provides supplies that are not susceptible to extortion or cutoff by China in the event they want to move on Taiwan, the Philippines or other neighbors.
It is interesting that the writers perceive the US as a treat to world peace, but China—which subjugated Tibet and which regularly stages incursions into Indian territory—is deemed peaceful and reliable. China also enslaves domestic minorities and uses slave labor to make their “cheap” wind and solar technologies. In this form of peace, you can have pease as long as you are willing to submit to subjugation by your Chinese betters.
evidence?? or just hearsay??
And the Tibetan empire subjugated anyone it felt like, invading parts of China, as well as other areas. A Tibetan ruler forced the ruling Chinese dynasty to provide a Chinese princess for marriage, presumably to keep the Chinese emperor under control.<g>
Later on, after the 1855-1856 Nepal-Tibet War, Tibet, having lost, paid tribute to Nepal for 100 years or so, plus agreeing to a host of economic “agreements”. This was payback for previous losses to the Tibetan/Chinese forces. Nepal became a tribute state to China at one time, paying after being invaded by Tibetan forces backed the Chinese emperor (Tibet being regarded as part of China, in essence).
Just business as usual. The Western picture of Tibetans as peaceful Buddhist monks sitting about being holy, is just so much nonsense. The history of the area is interesting, with historians differing (as usual) about events and their causes.
“Free Tibet” is about as realistic as “Stop Climate Change”.
The Guardian has a jaundiced view…
He, he, he.
That picture of Chinese “samples” makes it clear how the CCP wishes to treat the US.
How do you say “Put a plug in it” in Chinese?
There is no such thing as “climate action”… ie actions that will affect the global climate
… it is all just meaningless virtue-seeking nonsense.
Sensible “climate action”.
If it’s cold outside, wear a coat. If it’s warm outside, don’t wear a coat.
“…..at a time when global collaboration is essential for a
justideological Marxist-socialist oriented climate transition. When industrial strategy is shaped by military and national security priorities, it not only entrenches geopolitical conflict but also distorts pathways forequitableMarxist-socialist driven climate action, redirecting public resources and state capacity away from the broader demands of rapid andjustideological Marxist-socialist oriented decarbonisation.”I confess to getting really tired of Marxists and leftists attaching themselves to the climate alarmist narrative to push their ideology and trying to mask their leftism with the use of words like “just” and “equitable.”
If these authors want more rare earths for EVs, wind turbines and solar panels and less for the defense industry, they should go out and stockpile the REs themselves.
The answer to this nonsense report couldn’t be easier. We in the US intend to spend our money on stuff that works. Wind, solar, storage and EVs don’t work. We also intend to have a very strong and modern military. We don’t take council from outfits like Transition Security Project. One only has to witness their eagerness to waste time, money and resources on stuff that doesn’t work to know for certain we don’t give a damn what they think or say.
CCP China is weaponising rare earth elements, yet CCP China good, Yankee baaad! It’s the predictable claim from the West hating nihilistic pseudo-intelligentsia Marxist Left.
Is that like the US trying to weaponise the use of sanctions? If America was complacent and silly enough not to foresee the “weaponisation”, I have no sympathy at all!
How about the US reneging on its written agreement to supply heavy diesel fuel to North Korea, to force North Korea to “come to heel”? And on, and on, and on.
Other countries “weaponise” what they can. Wouldn’t you, if faced by someone you perceive as a bully (wrongly or rightly)? Blaming your adversary for “outweaponising” you, makes you look stupid, as well as weak.
People in glass houses . . .
Not quite my experience, which may not be nearly as broad as yours. Did you enquire as to the reasons for this “hatred and contempt”, or not? Just a “feeling”, perhaps?
I’m opposed to bullying through force of arms, and killing assorted unknown people just because you can.
If you are just expressing a personal opinion about “hatred and contempt”, then your opinion has the same value as mine – none at all. In my worthless opinion, of course!
Hang on…. aren’t all these rare earths for all the climate cult batteries and other junk?