Without access to affordable energy, ridding the world of poverty, producing food, and creating opportunities for meaningful work become difficult. Dukeries Eco Watch remind us that the global challenge is in transitioning to cleaner energy technologies whilst still enabling social and economic advancement for those who need it.
The UK committed to the Net Zero agenda in the Climate Change Act 2008. Many other countries followed suit and signed up to similar legislation. The target of Net Zero by 2050 was set in 2019. Across the industrialised world countries started to transition from fossil fuels to clean ‘net zero’ carbon energy. New, green technologies are at the heart of the industrial transformations driving the net zero agenda, and that relies on a complex global supply chain composed of various resources, minerals, and materials used to produce, store, and use renewable energy.
China is the dominant producer of over 50% of the materials used in solar panels, electric vehicles, and wind turbine; their control over certain minerals exceeds 90%. The Dominican Republic of Congo is known for its cobalt and copper mining; however, China retains control of production because it owns most of the mines there. The minerals extracted are then processed within China and exported from there, creating dependencies in the developed world. This includes rare earth elements. So, China produces most of the global supply, and it restricts exports through quotas, licenses, and taxes.
Some western countries stand at a critical juncture in energy policy, where they face the challenge of balancing affordability, reliability, and sustainability. Lobbyists claim policies centred on renewables have driven up costs and raise concerns about energy security and economic resilience and think approaches such as incorporating nuclear power and advanced coal technologies can align environmental goals with economic priorities, preferring to prioritise reliable, cost-effective fossil energy solutions, thinking it will safeguard a country’s prosperity, protect household wellbeing, and ensure energy security for the long term. It can be argued that this approach, however, does not consider the speed at which climate impacts are now materialising, the increasing financial cost of destruction from extreme weather, or even consider options of addressing consumer expectations to reduce the level of demand for energy.
To achieve energy security without creating any one nation’s dominance, new alliances and supply chain diversification will be needed and world leaders may need to look again at their plans as providing low-cost, net zero, abundant energy for everyone conflicts directly with the drive for profit growth, especially from legacy fossil fuel infrastructure. Capturing and delivering energy to society is about innovation: inventing, building, and perfecting technologies based on what physics and engineering allow. However, all society-scale energy systems have environmental trade-offs and energy security is a top priority for global leaders.
The energy available in nature itself is fundamentally unlimited. Harnessing it to achieve viable green energy means overcoming many political obstacles but Dukeries Eco Watch believe it is worth the time, effort, investment, innovation and continued commitment.
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Pauline Meechan