Critical minerals: powering Asia’s clean energy transition 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) recently published a policy and launched a comprehensive approach to developing responsible and resilient critical minerals-to-manufacturing value chains across Asia and the Pacific. This is a bold and needed initiative by an important leading development bank, and we at TDi Sustainability were thrilled to have been a member of the team of experts that developed the approach over the last year, including our founder Assheton Carter, who was the lead strategy consultant for the project. The bank’s approach aims to position the region as a leader in transforming raw minerals into technologies essential for digitalisation and the clean energy transition.  

 Critical minerals such as copper, nickel, manganese, cobalt, and rare earth elements are fundamental components in technologies driving global clean energy and digital transformation. Demand for these resources continues to increase and the Asia-Pacific region possesses significant comparative advantages for meeting this growing demand, including large minerals reserves, established industrial infrastructure, and a skilled workforce. 

However, supply chain concentration presents obstacles in the region, with processing and manufacturing activities often limited to specific geographic areas. This concentration is exacerbated by disruptions such as natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, and health pandemics. Additionally, the development of mining, refining, and manufacturing requires extensive capital investment and extended timeframes. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts of mining continue to raise concerns due to the industry’s association with pollution, biodiversity loss, and community impacts. 

The ADB approach we helped develop focuses on addressing these challenges through targeted investments, policy support, and promotion of sustainable practices across the value chain. These points align with many of the topics explored during the recent webinar jointly organised by TDi Sustainability and the ADB titled “Critical Minerals and the Clean Energy Transition in the Asian Context.” The webinar brought together experts to examine responsible production and sourcing practices for critical minerals within the region and addressed several crucial aspects of the critical minerals landscape that correspond with ADB’s newly announced approach to boost job creation, fuel economic growth, and strengthen energy security. The webinar was the first in a series of webinars TDi and ADB are co-hosting on the topic of responsible investment in critical minerals. Find out more here. 

TDi Sustainability is a strategy consultant specialising in advising our clients how to build resilient, responsible and reliable sourcing and investment strategies in mining and metals value chains. Our experts have supported equity investors, asset managers, development banks, industry associations, governments, standard-setting organisations, corporates and operating companies to identify and mitigate supply chain risks; develop and implement due diligence management systems; establish mineral governance structures; conduct research and technical assessments of ESG standards implementation; and carry out on-the-ground assessments at the mine site, processing and manufacturing facilities. If you are looking to advance your organisation’s critical minerals strategy, please get in touch with us.