The shuttering of a Western Australian lithium refinery after just four years should serve as a warning as China pumps more than $160 billion into overseas critical minerals and metals endeavours.<\/p>\n
US company Albemarle shut up shop at its South West lithium refinery in February, citing its struggle to compete with China\u2019s low-cost production.<\/p>\n
Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley said its closure was a consequence of China\u2019s strategic diversification to boost critical minerals and clean tech capacity.<\/p>\n
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By continuing you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a serious problem,\u201d he told AAP.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will stay a dig and ship country if we can\u2019t actually get other countries to value the geopolitical stability that we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Buckley has co-authored a report on China\u2019s evolving strategy to entrench its dominance in lithium, copper, nickel, rare earths and other elements of the low carbon supply chain.<\/p>\n The Asian powerhouse has invested heavily in domestic mining and manufacturing capacity as well as launched a comprehensive foreign investment strategy targeted at the Global South.<\/p>\n Moving beyond the extractive mega-projects of the past, China is investing in smaller, high-tech manufacturing facilities offshore to secure long-term access to materials.<\/p>\n The massive $160 billion total outbound investment tracked by the think tank represents China\u2019s strategic move to dampen its over-reliance on a few key export markets, including Australia.<\/p>\n As well, little of China\u2019s overseas spending is landing in Australia, with a 85 per cent collapse in foreign direct investment since 2018 identified by consultancy KPMG.<\/p>\n Mr Buckley said Australia needed to adapt quickly to China\u2019s reshaping of the green economic geography.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is imperative that we act now to shift these dynamics in Australia\u2019s favour to become a renewables-powered mining and value-adding superpower or risk remaining on the sidelines as the world\u2019s quarry in the new global economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In the absence of a strong international carbon pricing signal to bolster greener manufacturing, Mr Buckley says Australia should be doubling down on \u201cgreen energy statecraft\u201d.<\/p>\n This involves trade arrangements and strategic investments that help key trade partners meet Paris climate commitments while securing a higher green premium for Australian processed goods.<\/p>\n The agreement between Australia\u2019s Lynas Rare Earths and Japan to supply rare earth long-term at a guaranteed floor price was held up as a \u201cperfect example\u201d of green energy statecraft.<\/p>\n Australia should also be looking for opportunities carefully and selectively engage China – still its biggest trading partner – on green partnerships before the diversification away becomes more pronounced.<\/p>\n The $81 billion in federal capital support under \u2018future made in Australia\u2019 was described as \u201cdirectionally correct\u201d but insufficient without a carbon pricing signal to entice private money.<\/p>\n The think tank recommends Australia work toward an explicit, whole-of-economy carbon price and leverage Energy Minister Chris Bowen\u2019s COP31 presidency to push for a regional Asian carbon border adjustment mechanism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The shuttering of a Western Australian lithium refinery after just four years should serve as a warning as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,99,44],"class_list":["post-549231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}