If there is one silver lining in the cloud that is the disaster created for Europe, but most particularly Germany, by its reliance on Russia for natural gas, it is that the West has learned that becoming reliant on a hostile (or, if you are an optimist, potentially hostile) authoritarian state is . . . unwise.
That’s not a mistake that countries in the West will be making again.
The Daily Telegraph:
Britain risks becoming in thrall to Beijing due to its growing reliance on renewable energy, a new Lords report has warned.
A House of Lords committee warned that Britain is becoming too dependent on China for the supply of rare earth elements used to manufacture wind turbines and components for solar panels.
China’s control over the global industry creates “new risks” as it leaves Britain at the mercy of Beijing for supplies.
The Lords committee warned that Xi Jinping could use rare earth mineral supplies as “leverage” in negotiations over other issues. Jason Bordoff, of the Columbia Climate School, told the committee China’s dominance in the critical minerals market was a “national security concern” and said the Government should work to reduce the nation’s reliance on Chinese exports.
Oh.
The Daily Telegraph:
China provides around 98pc of the EU’s requirement for rare earth metals used to build batteries, smartphones and offshore wind turbines. The minerals are mined in many countries but Beijing has invested in the infrastructure required to process and export them globally.
Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned the Lords committee in April that China had “given a lot of thought and taken a lot of actions to secure supply” of key materials.
He said: “There are issues with supply chain concentrations. A lot of the technology and production comes out of China, so there is a heavy exposure to China, certainly in new solar, and there are heavy concentrations in rare earths and minerals, as you are aware.
“In fact, there is very clearly insufficient global investment in those materials for the scale of the transition that is required, not just in the UK but more broadly, so there are security of supply issues there that need to be addressed and thought through.
“Having reliable supply chains for these critical minerals should be one of the top priorities for energy security, or else we will not be able to build out the sustainable platform that we need to marry security and sustainability.”
Carney was not wrong, and yet this is the same Mark Carney who has been instrumental in rallying the support of a significant section of the financial “community” behind the U.N.’s reckless “race to net zero.”
Not for the first time, I am left wondering how carefully the establishment’s green zealots have thought this all through.
Reading this, I am again also left wondering whether this exposure to China is properly reflected in the ESG ratings used by increasing numbers of investors (ESG is a form of “socially responsible” investing under which companies are measured against various environmental, social, and governance yardsticks).
Well, maybe that word “wondering” is an exaggeration.
ESG, China: Choose one (or better, choose neither).