Technology-critical element

A technology-critical element (TCE) is a chemical element that is critical to modern and emerging technologies, resulting in a striking increase in their usage. Similar terms include critical elements, critical materials, critical raw materials, energy-critical elements and elements of security.

Many advanced engineering applications, such as clean-energy production, communications and computing, use emergent technologies that utilize numerous chemical elements. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created the Critical Materials Institute (CMI) to address the issue. In 2015, the European COST Action TD1407 created a network of scientists working and interested on TCEs, from an environmental perspective to potential human health threats.

A study estimated losses of 61 metals to help the development of circular economy strategies, showing that usespans of, often scarce, tech-critical metals are short.