Abstract: With the deepening of global attention to climate change, carbon neutrality has become a general consensus and
strategic goal of the international community. Achieving this goal relies on a wide range of advanced technologies and solutions, including renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies. However, the large-scale deployment of these technologies has created a surge in demand for key metals, posing a new challenge. This paper reviews the dynamic changes in the demand for key metals in the context of the development of carbon neutral technologies, explores the potential supply risks, and proposes countermeasures. This paper analyzes the dependence of key technologies such as wind energy, solar photovoltaic, battery energy storage, hydrogen energy and electric vehicles on key metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements. With the rapid growth of installed clean energy capacity, the demand for these metals is expected to rise significantly in the coming decades. For example, demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel for electric vehicle batteries and for rare earth metals such as neodymium and dysprosium used in wind turbine magnets is growing far faster than current mining and recycling capabilities. In conclusion, the rapid development of carbon-neutral technologies poses new challenges to the demand for key metals, requiring a global vision and innovative solutions to ensure sustainable supply of resources and support the global transition to a low-carbon economy.

Key words: carbon neutral technology, critical metals, clean energy transition, metal demand；climate change