Pentagon’s $7.5 billion critical mineral stockpile could power clean energy transition instead

The Pentagon is amassing a massive stockpile of critical minerals essential for clean energy technology, raising questions about whether these resources would be better used fighting climate change than preparing for war. A new report from the Transition Security Project reveals that President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated $7.5 billion to build Pentagon reserves of cobalt, lithium, and graphite – materials crucial for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines.

The numbers are staggering: the Defense Department’s planned stockpiles of cobalt and graphite alone could electrify over 100,000 buses or create twice the battery storage capacity currently available in the United States. Yet these materials will sit locked away in six military depots, accessible only during declared war or by special order. Meanwhile, the U.S. currently operates just 6,000 electric buses and desperately needs more clean energy infrastructure.

This represents a sharp reversal from recent policy. The U.S. previously dismantled similar Cold War-era stockpiles by 2003, viewing international supply chains as reliable. The Biden administration even considered reviving stockpiles specifically for climate action, though those plans never materialized. Now, the focus has shifted back to military applications under Trump’s defense team, which has explicitly rejected climate considerations.

Critics argue this approach wastes taxpayer money and scarce resources. Unlike fossil fuels, critical minerals can be recycled when used in civilian applications like batteries, but are permanently destroyed when used in weapons. As researcher Julie Klinger puts it, military use means these valuable materials are “simply being dug out of the ground in one place to be blown up in another place.”