Russia’s belligerence against Ukraine is underscoring once again the inextricable link between national security and energy security. Today, Russia is flexing its energy dominance over a dependent Europe. But tomorrow, the danger may come from China and its control over the raw materials that are key to a clean energy future. The United States and its allies must ensure that doesn’t happen. In recent years America has been lulled into a false sense of energy independence. The shale revolution of the past decade has generated incredible supplies of vital natural…
Tag: Lithium (Metal)
In Congo, Bolivia and Beyond, Where the Green Future Begins
Like prospectors in the American West during the gold rush, companies and self-starters are racing to far-flung places around the globe to mine the natural resources that will drive the technology of the 21st century. The Times’s ongoing Race to the Future series is documenting the geopolitical, economic and environmental wrangling that is shaping the shift from fossil fuels to electricity in vehicle technology. Times journalists from four desks are collaborating to shed light on the scramble for metals and the players involved: local residents with pickaxes, celebrity investors eyeing…
How China’s CATL Became the Top Electric Car Battery Maker
CATL’s initial public offering in 2018 made Mr. Zeng and two CATL vice chairmen, who together own a 40 percent stake, rich. Other early investors, some with deep political connections, did well, too. The company’s success was never assured, but China had let the world know that it planned to dominate the electric vehicle industry. It said in a sweeping announcement in 2016 that a “third industrial revolution” focusing on digitization and “new energy” would allow China to take the lead in autos. CATL invited a few outside investors to…