Once a somewhat niche industry, critical minerals are now dominating headlines, influencing geopolitical trends and driving international trade.

These materials are core components of technologies crucial to the energy transition and defence systems, and heightened interest in these areas is fuelling demand. For example, lithium demand jumped by 30% in 2024, while nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earths all increased by 6-8% – and it is expected to keep climbing.

With the International Energy Agency forecasting demand for these minerals to triple or even quadruple by 2040, the rush for critical minerals will continue shaping international relations, highlighting the need to address major environmental and social implications.

In this week's episode, Giulia interviews Olimpia Pilch, critical minerals consultant at Minefield Consulting, on the complex world of critical minerals, their importance in energy transition and defence, and the geopolitical and environmental challenges involved.

Their wide-ranging conversation covers:

• The definition of critical minerals
• Supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical risks
• China's role in critical mineral processing and supply
• What are the potential and limitations of critical mineral recycling
• The environmental and social implications of mineral extraction

While the Global North has outsourced polluting industries, including mining, for decades, it’s crucial to understand that clean technologies need these primary sources. Amid geopolitical tensions straining supply chains, achieving the energy transition may require a new world order.

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With Season 6 we're doing something different.

The world feels unpredictable right now, but it's not random. Climate shocks, geopolitical tension, technological disruption, rising costs, shifting power - these aren't separate crises, they're all pressures building across the same system.

Over the past five seasons of Shaken Not Burned, we’ve explored climate, finance, technology, sustainability, inequality and more - often as separate topics. But the world doesn’t experience them separately. So what’s actually going on?

In this opening episode, Felicia Jackson and Giulia Bottaro unpack why the world feels increasingly unpredictable - and more importantly, how do you navigate it?

This season, we’re rethinking how we understanding what's happening around us and how we decide what to do next.

Each episode will take you inside a specific industry or system - from finance to AI to supply chains - to understand how these pressures are playing out in practice. Not as abstract trends, but as real decisions, trade-offs and consequences.

Because this isn’t abstract. It shapes what things cost, how businesses operate, where risks sit - and what choices are available to all of us.

And once you can see that, the world stops looking like a series of random crises and starts looking like something you can navigate.

It’s what allows you to see what matters, where change is possible, and how to act when the future isn’t clear.

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Two years on, we have reached season 6!

We have explored a wide range of topics, from the just transition to the planetary boundaries, through the circular economy and climate risk. Now, it's time to delve even deeper into our quest to help you build sustainability literacy.

The current multicrisis is affecting industries in different ways: companies are facing challenges that are unique to the context in which they operate.

That’s why, in this season, we’re tackling one sector at a time, exploring the risks and trade-offs behind business as usual. Each arc will comprise four episodes to drill down into fundamental shifts, innovation, and regulation: expect in-depth analysis on mining, fashion, AI, and many more.

We are living in turbulent times - what happens next depends on how well we understand the world around us. At Shaken Not Burned, we believe that sustainability literacy is a key tool in identifying where risks and opportunities lie. Join us for season 6 as we decode how the decisions driving our economies, industries and institutions are unfolding in practice.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram – and why not spread the word with your friends and colleagues?