Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Tuesday, the United States and the International Energy Agency urged Asian nations to diversify their...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - On Tuesday, the United States and the International Energy Agency urged Asian nations to diversify their energy and essential resource supply chains in order to reduce their reliance on nations like China and Russia.
The current energy crisis, which is a result of sanctions on Russia, should spur Indo-Pacific nations to concentrate more on the transition away from fossil fuels, according to IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
To do so, the region would have to stop depending on Russia and nations like the Democratic Republic of the Congo for crucial minerals used in electric vehicles and batteries, as well as China for solar energy technologies.
At the Sydney Energy Forum, Granholm said, "We want to make sure that we as nations are not under the heel of petro-dictators, under the thumb of people who don't share our values, under the thumb of those who would like to dominate strategic areas of the supply chain."
The Australian government and the IEA are co-hosting the forum.
According to Birol, China currently controls 80% of the world's supply chain for solar technology, and by 2025, that percentage will have increased to 95%.
From the standpoint of energy security, Birol said, "We all need to worry about dependence on one single product, one single technology—to depend the entire globe on one single country."
On the supply side of energy, he advised anyone considering significant new fossil fuel investments that won't go online for several years to take into account the business risk for investors as the world transitions to cleaner energy.
