We’re often told about all the jobs that the race to net zero (greenhouse-gas emissions) is going to generate.
We’re often told about all the jobs that the race to net zero (greenhouse-gas emissions) is going to generate. That has never seemed particularly plausible to me, especially if looked at after taking account of all the jobs that are going to be lost, either directly or indirectly, through decarbonization. But even the gross total of jobs created will, I suspect, disappoint.
This report in the Financial Times therefore has done nothing to make me think my suspicions are incorrect:
The head of one of Europe’s largest wind turbine manufacturers has called for a quota on the amount of EU-produced turbines installed in the region, as the sector seeks to compete with cheaper Chinese imports and the bloc pushes for energy security.
Siemens Gamesa’s chief executive Jochen Eickholt told the Financial Times that if Europe was serious about its energy independence and the role of wind power, turbines should be considered as critical and strategically important infrastructure, with measures introduced to support the industry. . . .
Manufacturers have . . . come under increasing pressure from Chinese rivals boosted by rapid wind adoption in their home country and that often offer much lower prices. Top Chinese manufacturers accounted for 53.5 per cent of new global turbine installations last year, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, up from 36.6 per cent in 2018.
Eickholt said there was “definitely a risk” that the wind turbine industry would come to look like the solar panel industry, where Chinese manufacturers dominate the market and the supply chain, a situation on which the International Energy Agency warned in its July report.
Speaking of solar panels, I’ll just quote again from a recent piece in Canada’s Financial Post that I included in the latest Capital Letter:
As of last year, China controlled a whopping 75 per cent of the global solar panel market. And according to InfoLink, a Taiwanese renewable energy consulting firm, European imports of Chinese photovoltaic modules increased 137 per cent in the first half of 2022, compared to a year earlier, as it looks for ways to offset reduced supplies of Russian gas.
“With Europe importing 80 per cent of its solar panels from China, dependencies would merely shift from imported oil or gas to imported solar equipment, leaving much to be desired when it comes to the solar sector as a genuine source of energy security and strategic autonomy,” reads a European Parliament backgrounder from July…
I’m old enough to remember claims that decarbonization was also going to end European dependence on authoritarian regimes.
Speaking of which (via the Financial Times):
As a global race for supplies of lithium heats up, companies from China and Russia are dominating the competition to unlock the vast potential of Bolivia, the country with the world’s biggest resource of the critical metal for electric vehicle batteries.
Four Chinese and one Russian group are on the shortlist as Bolivia’s leftwing government nears a decision on a possible partner for state lithium company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos, with what kind of collaboration to be determined. One US group is the only western company still in contention…