Now in its eighteenth year, NBR’s Energy Security Program convenes senior policy and industry leaders and energy specialists to engage in high-level discussion of and research on Asia’s energy policies and the geopolitical impact. Today’s program will focus on several pressing issues, including the securitization of supply chains, the geopolitics of critical minerals, and the United States’ role in maintaining critical supply chains in Asia.

As countries across the Indo-Pacific set increasingly ambitious targets to electrify their energy systems and achieve net-zero emissions in their energy, power, and transportation sectors, demand will sharply rise for critical minerals and rare earth elements essential for this transformation. The IEA estimates that global demand will quadruple by 2040, leading some experts to suggest that the clean energy transition will make critical minerals the 'new oil.' Increasing demand for these minerals and metals-including copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, aluminum, graphite, and rare earth minerals like neodymium-presents numerous obstacles for the clean energy industry and policymakers seeking to expand electrification, renewable energy supplies, and new battery technologies, among other products.

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 28 July  2022
• Time: 8:30AM - 1:00 PM EDT