As of July 21–27, 2025, global leaders are advancing a pivotal new investment wave grounded in strategic collaboration and high-standards for critical minerals development.
On June 14–15, 2025, the G7 summit in Italy unveiled its new Critical Minerals Action Plan, aimed at securing and diversifying the global supply chain for essential raw materials. Key elements include cross-border cooperation on responsible mining, development of recycling and refining infrastructure, and coordination among export credit agencies, development banks, and private capital. The plan also emphasizes traceability, environmental protection, and community safeguards—and establishes new partnerships with mineral-rich countries across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. This represents a major shift toward proactive, value-driven regulation at the global level.
Over the same period, global investment inflows into defense and green infrastructure surged, with G7 governments supporting projects across battery metals, solar energy, and electric vehicle sectors. In parallel, China intensified its global acquisitions of lithium, cobalt, and rare earth assets—particularly in Africa, Central Asia, and Latin America—raising the stakes in supply chain geopolitics. These dual dynamics—Western governance frameworks and Chinese resource expansion—are reshaping the critical minerals ecosystem into a new field of strategic competition.
This broader push matters not only for industrial policy but for how mining gains social legitimacy. By trying financing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) benchmarks, the G7 Action Plan elevates community inclusion, transparency, and equitable benefit-sharing to central priorities. Investments aligned with these standards are more likely to secure local support and avoid conflict, especially in regions with a history of mineral-related tensions. In effect, the new investment wave reinforces the principle that long- term mineral development must balance strategic demand with responsible engagement and local trust.