Muyi Yang,Genevieve Donnellon-MayandYongping Sun

Opinion | China and Australia can team up to boost Asean’s energy transition

China’s EV supply-chain investments in the region come with environmental and social challenges – which sustainable miner Australia can help solve

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Activists display posters reading “stop buying Indonesia’s dirty nickel” and “Indonesia has become a sacrifice zone for the electric vehicle industry” in Jakarta on June 13. Australia’s waste management practices, mine site rehabilitation and indigenous community engagement have often been cited as global examples of sustainable mining. Photo: AFP

Muyi Yang,Genevieve Donnellon-MayandYongping Sun

Published: 4:30pm, 30 Jul 2024

The Australia-China relationship has stabilised after years of geopolitical and trade turbulence. This lays the groundwork for further cooperation, including through joint initiatives in Asia. A significant opportunity lies in Southeast Asia’s push towards an electrified future.

Almost all countries in the region have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions, and electrifying the end-user sectors, including transport, is a crucial strategy in this effort.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s road map to keep the global temperature rise under 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, Southeast Asia is set for a rapid electrification, with more than half of its energy consumption coming from electricity by 2050, up from 22 per cent in 2018. This shift will drive a substantial rise in electric vehicle (EV) sales, reaching about 8.5 million units by 2035, according to EY-Parthenon analysis.

This burgeoning market presents an attractive opportunity for Chinese EV makers, which increasingly seek growth overseas amid domestic competition so fierce it has been described as a bloodbath. Southeast Asia’s close economic ties with China, coupled with Chinese companies’ narrowing prospects in Western markets amid rising import tariffs, is boosting interest in the region.

Chinese brands have shown remarkable growth, from just 38 per cent of the region’s EV market in 2022 to over 70 per cent last year. These efforts are supported by an influx of Chinese investment in EV manufacturing and the upstream supply chain, including mining, mineral processing and battery manufacturing.

Notably, in 2022, leading Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) announced a nearly US$6 billion joint venture in Indonesia to develop an end-to-end lithium-ion battery supply chain, spanning mining, material processing, battery manufacturing and recycling.