Inside Amazon and XPRIZE’s Critical Minerals Push

According to Amazon, critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper and rare earth elements are essential for the economy and the energy transition.

Despite their importance, the supply chains responsible for mineral transportation are both highly concentrated and vulnerable to disruption, leading to risks for energy security and the pace of decarbonisation.

As well as these, communities closest to mineral extraction often face challenges including unsafe work conditions, human rights risks and environmental degradation.

To tackle this, Amazon is partnering with XPRIZE, the world's leader in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions to solve humanity's grand challenges, to accelerate scalable solutions.

Advancing material circularity 

Together, the collaboration is designing the XPRIZE Critical Minerals grand challenge.

This global challenge is aiming to accelerate scalable solutions that advance circularity and transform how critical minerals are sourced, processed and reused. 

According to the International Energy Agency, critical mineral demand is projected to quadruple by 2040, highlighting the importance of circular systems.

"Critical minerals are foundational to transitioning to cleaner energy, but today's supply chains weren't designed for the scale or speed of tomorrow's demand," says Kara Hurst, Amazon’s chief sustainability officer. 

"The XPRIZE Critical Minerals competition aims to mobilise innovators worldwide to develop solutions that don't just recover and reuse these materials more effectively, but fundamentally redesign how they flow through the global economy. 

“This is about building supply chain resilience, protecting human rights in mining communities, and ensuring the technologies powering decarbonisation are designed for sustainability and economic viability." 

Supporting a green economy 

The partnership aims to reflect a “just transition”.

The International Labour Organization defined this transition as “greening the economy in a  way that is as fair and inclusive as possible, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind.”

To Amazon, this means aligning both decarbonisation efforts with respect for essential human rights for workers and communities.

Ultimately, the aim is to expand access to safe and fair compensated jobs to ensure that the benefits for the green energy transition are shared globally. 

For Amazon’s business, this work is central to achieving its Climate Pledge commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

The company is rapidly transforming its infrastructure, from more than 700 wind and solar projects worldwide to battery materials that power over 35,000 electric delivery vehicles, with these investments expected to continue expanding alongside business growth.

At the same time, Amazon is working to strengthen raw material supply chains and advance the responsible sourcing of critical minerals. 

Through initiatives such as the Responsible Minerals Initiative and The Copper Mark, the company supports greater transparency, higher standards, and more responsible practices across global supply chains.

A critical mineral competition

The competition is seeking innovations that can aid in: 

• Reducing reliance on vulnerable supply chains
• Safeguard and advance human rights and ecosystems
• Unlock economically viable pathways for circular mineral production
• Enhance the rate of responsible mineral sourcing.

“Our collaboration with Amazon reflects a shared commitment to strengthening supply chains and advancing more responsible solutions for the clean energy transition,” says Anousheh Ansari, XPRIZE’s CEO. 

"XPRIZE Critical Minerals will challenge innovators worldwide, from startups and research institutions to entrepreneurs developing breakthrough technologies, to develop sustainable, scalable solutions that meet future demands.”

By creating solutions that industries, governments and markets can adopt with confidence, the critical mineral competition aims to attract the investment needed to scale essential energy transition innovations.