Expert Commentary | From Aid to Advantage: The G7’s Critical Minerals Shift Needs Delivery
2025 marked the sharpest decline in Official Development Assistance on record, yet the G7’s latest commitments suggest a different way forward. By linking development cooperation with critical raw materials security, the Summit recognised that resilient supply chains depend on stronger partnerships, local value creation, and shared economic gains. The direction is promising, but ambition alone will not deliver results, write Fiona De Cuyper and Irina Patrahau. Without binding commitments, meaningful partner-country participation, and sustained financing, the G7 risks falling short of its own strategic objectives.
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Expert Analysis | The G7 has a critical minerals plan, but it is missing a development chapter
The G7 has made critical minerals a strategic priority, but its current approach risks overlooking a key factor for success: development. In a new HCSS Expert Analysis, strategic analysts Irina Patrahau and Fiona De Cuyper argue that resilient mineral supply chains cannot be built through standards and coordination alone. Producer countries must be involved in shaping supply chain rules and supported in meeting them. Without investment in local capacity, infrastructure and value addition, the G7’s critical minerals strategy will remain incomplete.
