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Paper short abstract

This paper examines how knowledge about the mineral requirements of the energy transition in France is produced and governed. It shows how several communities of experts across policy arenas shape anticipatory expertise through competing problem framings, and how this influences transition planning.

Paper long abstract

The material foundations of the energy transition are increasingly visible as governments anticipate growing demand for critical minerals. Yet the integration of mineral resource concerns into low-carbon transition planning remains uneven. This paper examines how expert knowledge about the mineral requirements of the energy transition is produced and mobilized within fragmented policy arenas.

The analysis focuses on the French case, where energy–climate policy and mineral resource policy are largely developed within separate administrative and expert communities, raising the issue of governing and coordinating the production of expert knowledge. Drawing on qualitative research conducted as part of an ongoing PhD project—including interviews with experts and policymakers, document analysis, and archival material—the paper traces how different expert actors construct anticipatory knowledge about the future material needs of the energy transition.

The findings show that anticipatory expertise is shaped by organizational contexts, with diverse policy arenas and competing ways of problematizing mineral resources. While some actors frame the problem primarily through concerns of supply security and industrial competitiveness, others attempt to connect these issues to broader questions of resource sufficiency and environmental limits. These different framings shape the tools used to anticipate the material consequences of the energy transition, influencing which material constraints are rendered visible or remain ignored.

By examining how institutional boundaries and interactions between expert communities structure the production of anticipatory knowledge, the paper contributes to STS debates on the politics of expertise and the making of energy transition futures by highlighting their organizational dimension.