WEC warned renewables at risk of ‘resource nationalism’ over critical minerals

‘When a commodity becomes strategic we see a trend towards resource nationalism’ says Carole Nakhle

The World Energy Council was issued a warning about the impacts of ‘resource nationalism’ on energy security yesterday. And not in relation to oil and gas… but to renewables.

Carole Nakhle, chief executive of London-headquartered research and advisor company Crystol Energy, said: “We are not talking much about energy security when it comes to green energy.

“The energy transition is mineral intensive: mining activity has to expand exponentially to get the minerals and the metals that we need for solar, wind and batteries.

“When you look at the concentration of reserves and production you can see that there’s a much bigger concentration of minerals and metals than there is for oil and gas.”

And this, she warned, is when ‘resource nationalism’ kicks in.

Strategic resources

Dr Nakhle – who is a board member of New York-based NGO the Natural Resource Governance Institute – explained: “When a commodity becomes strategic – as what happened with oil – we see an increasing trend towards resource nationalism.

“Resource nationalism is not necessarily nationalisation – it’s a big spectrum and nationalisation is at the extreme end of this spectrum.

“But you can have different steps: a government that own those resources can take several measures that can curtail both investment and supplies.”

She warned that “the more we accelerate this energy transition, the more the demand for resources is going to be established… and the more prices will increase. And we should expect to see resource nationalism growing.”

Critical minerals is a theme running through the first couple of days of the World Energy Congress in Rotterdam.

The critical mineral challenges of Congo were highlighted yesterday by Monique Motty, a Congolese Future Energy Leader for the World Energy Council who is the founder of Eco Solutions Consulting.

And she argued that there was good reason why Congo – which is home to vast amounts of the critical materials needed for the global energy transition – should practise its own form of resource nationalism.

“We see Congo as part of the solution,” said Motty. “However, being the solution to others should not negate being the solution for ourselves first.”

She said Congo had a duty to bring its people “up to speed of energy access: we want to balance providing for others while also making sure that we are benefitting.”

Read more about Monique Motty’s speech at the World Energy Congress here.

Originally published on enlit.world