The Copper Imperative

The global clean-energy race hinges on copper, and India must urgently rebuild domestic refining capacity to secure its future and avoid dependence

- KRITI MEHTA

The world is racing to secure copper for the clean-energy era—India must not fall behind

Copper is quietly becoming the world’s most critical industrial metal, the invisible wiring of the 21st-century economy.

It powers electric vehicles, clean energy grids, semiconductors, data centres, and even space exploration. As the planet races toward decarbonization, copper has moved from the shadows of commodity markets to the centre of global strategy.

Every electric vehicle uses nearly four times more copper than a conventional car. Solar farms, wind turbines, and grid-scale batteries are equally copper-intensive. ‘The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global copper demand, now at around 26 million metric tonnes (MMT) annually, will climb to 33 MMT by 2035 and to nearly 40 MMT by 2050.

Nations that can secure, refine, and control the copper value chain will command the green industrial era. That race is already underway and is currently led by China and the United States.

In Washington, copper has become a quiet pillar of industrial policy. American policymakers see copper not just as an industrial input, but as a national security asset essential for energy transition and defence technologies.