Admiral Dennis Blair is the president of SAFE, a non-partisan energy security organization, and the former US Director of National Intelligence and commander of the US Pacific Command. Robbie is the founder and CEO of Diamond Safe.
As the world’s eyes turned to COP27, the United Nations climate change conference in Egypt, a more low-key bureaucratic gathering was taking place in Brussels, both for the industrial supply chains needed to wean the continent off the most carbon-intensive fuels. was working on increasing environmental and national security reasons.
really, European Raw Materials Week Now imbued with an added sense of purpose and urgency, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent inevitable turn of some EU members to coal to survive the winter, puts Europe in dire straits of energy security. informed of the facts.
Relying on untrustworthy and hostile actors increases the strategic imperative to avoid new dependencies for critical materials needed to power the green transition with solar panels, advanced batteries and wind turbines – an opportunity and challenge that is currently a historic one. constitutes the inflection point which is currently being shaped. Multiple convergence trends and events.
For one, the United States will now spend hundreds of billions of dollars for sustainable energy initiatives, technologies and supply chains, thanks to recent historic legislation across the Atlantic. However, there is an understandable hitch that buying tax credits for electric vehicles (EVs) through the new anti-inflation law (IRA) would benefit countries that share a free trade agreement with the United States – except those in the European Union.
This is unnecessarily restrictive, and the US should include a preference for EU and NATO members – however, this does not mean that the Europeans should not play an important role, and seek to diversify their supply chains for raw materials. should derive significant benefits from partnering with North America. material.
The EU currently spends billions of euros subsidizing the purchase of EVs, most of which rely heavily on mining and processing sources dominated by China. Getting serious about “Made in Europe” also means getting serious about these supply chains. Europe has significant mineral processing capacity, and this could be expanded to loosen China’s grip – and potential weaponisation – on this critical stage of the EV battery supply chain.
For example, the EU already ranks second in global processing capacity for nickel, cobalt and manganese. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Meanwhile, with limited mining and processing available domestically, many US automakers are now scrambling for alternative sources for such raw materials so that they may be eligible for IRA tax credits. However, mineral extracted Can be from IRA-compliant countries (North America or US Free Trade Agreement participants) processed ever-increasing amounts in Europe, and the resulting EV batteries will still be eligible for tax credits within the US
Additionally, information technology such as blockchain is becoming increasingly available, allowing governments, businesses and consumers to track where materials and components come from – as well as how they are extracted and processed. Thus, democratic nations can agree to condition market access on shared human rights, labor and environmental requirements, effectively a “race to the top”, turning high standards into a competitive advantage.
Collectively, the European Union and North America make up about 45 percent of global GDP, which provides enormous advantages. Other nations must either comply with these standards – thus, raising their costs and limiting their price advantages – or be excluded. Given the imbalances of today’s supply chains, the initial phase of that transformation will not be easy. But if the world’s technologically advanced democracies have the will, and stick together through the initial turmoil, the means are there.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned as much in them. Union Address State earlier this year, noting that with “like-minded partners”, Europe could ensure labor and environmental standards outside its borders. To build on this, we have models of cooperation – such as the former tripartite discussion (EU, US, Japan – and now also involving Canada and Australia), of what “responsible” mining and permitting actually look like.
Finally, the fallout from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has also exposed the risks of shutting down existing sources of energy too quickly to transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Even the most climate-friendly electricity generation systems would require tremendous amounts of energy – primarily electricity. And in this capacity the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Norway have vast natural resources Help end EU dependency On Russia, even though we agree that this is not a permanent solution.
These priorities are in line with recent European policy initiatives, From repvareu – plans to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels – to Crucial Raw Materials Act, they need to widen the aperture of our thinking and collaborating on a comprehensive approach to deliver on the EU’s Green Deal and strategic autonomy
President von der Leyen led his address by calling Russia’s aggression a “war on our energy” as part of a wider assault on Europe’s economy, values and future. And getting our energy response right will require a shared transatlantic approach to key raw materials, one that addresses the needs of today as part of a prosperous, carbon-neutral future – not in opposition to it.