Belem [Brazil], November 15 (ANI): China’s tightening management over crucial minerals has changed into one of the debated points at COP30 in Belem, as main strategic affairs skilled Jagannath Panda warned that the world’s clean-energy transition can’t stay depending on provides managed ‘overwhelmingly by a single authoritarian state.’
In an in depth piece revealed in Turkiye Today following his go to to the summit as an observer, Panda stated that uncommon earths, lithium, copper and different minerals important for renewable applied sciences have turn into ‘political devices embedded within the strategic ambitions of the Communist Party of China (CPC).’
Panda wrote that China’s dominance, almost 60 per cent of worldwide uncommon earth manufacturing and round 90 per cent of refining capability, offers Beijing the power to ‘form, certainly to weaponise, the tempo and route of worldwide decarbonisation.’
According to him, this place was not created by market dynamics however by a long-term CPC technique designed to safe mining zones, monopolise processing, hyperlink infrastructure with geopolitical affect and use export controls to stress rivals.
‘These considerations permeate negotiation rooms, civil society occasions and skilled panels throughout COP30,’ he noticed.
Panda highlighted the Tibetan Plateau as a key extraction frontier for Beijing, noting the presence of main lithium, copper, uranium and heavy uncommon earth deposits.
A delegation led by Jagannath Panda, Head of SCSA-IPA, and joined by Senior Associate Fellow Richard Ghiasy, travelled to Brazil through the not too long ago held COP30 in Belem and later held high-level discussions in Rio de Janeiro.
As a part of their mission, ‘Whither Tibet in Climate Crisis Agenda’, the delegation highlighted that the Tibetan Plateau–known because the world’s ‘Third Pole’–is warming almost thrice quicker than the worldwide common, the discharge said.
While COP30 targeted closely on Amazon conservation, Indigenous rights, and sustainable improvement, the SCSA-IPA pressured that the Tibetan Plateau stays severely underrepresented, regardless of present process fast glacial soften, permafrost loss, and destabilisation of river methods that have an effect on almost 2 billion folks throughout South and Southeast Asia.
He wrote that large-scale initiatives such because the Qulong copper mine and the Zabuye lithium lake are related to intensive rail, hydropower and logistics networks that ‘serve twin functions: accelerating mineral extraction and advancing Beijing’s political and army consolidation of the plateau.’
He warned that the ecological penalties are ‘extreme,’ pointing to soil erosion, glacier depletion, polluted rivers and dangers to meals and water safety throughout Asia.
The debate intensified this month after Beijing expanded its uncommon earth export restrictions. China added 5 new rare-earth metals to controls introduced in April, bringing nearly all 17 recognised rare-earth parts below tighter scrutiny.
It additionally added dozens of refining applied sciences to its restricted record and imposed guidelines requiring approval for merchandise containing even 0.1 per cent of sure Chinese-sourced minerals.
China has barred the export of supplies utilized in defence methods and stated tools linked to semiconductors and AI will want case-by-case clearance.
Panda added that these measures type ‘a brand new layer of structural energy,’ giving Beijing broad management over clean-tech provide chains and even military-related inputs.
In his Turkiye Today evaluation, Panda wrote that international local weather targets at the moment are immediately threatened by China’s ‘opaque, concentrated and politically leveraged’ mineral networks.
He stated delegates in Belem more and more agree that the world’s inexperienced transition can’t stay tied to provide chains that Beijing can limit at will.
‘The contradiction is stark,’ he wrote. ‘Global local weather targets more and more depend on minerals extracted from a area struggling profound ecological stress.’ (ANI)
