Coronavirus And Global Supply Chain Disruption: A Wake-Up Call For Climate Policy?
Aseem Prakash
Coronavirus has slowed down economic activity and temporarily reduced China’s carbon emissions. However, there is a deeper implication for climate policy: decarbonization depends on global supply chains for inputs required for electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines.
What if these supply chains get disrupted? The consequences are serious when inputs come predominantly from a handful of countries. China is the leading supplier of “rare earth elements”, which gives it enormous power in the renewable energy market. For some critical minerals, especially cobalt, the world relies on conflict-ridden and politically unstable countries, such as Congo, which again poses a problem for supply chain reliability. The bottom-line is that supply disruptions abroad can derail decarbonization at home
Aseen
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Aseem
Prakash
Professor,
Department of Political Science
Walker
Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences
Founding
Director,
UW
Center for Environmental Politics
University
of Washington, Seattle
aseemprakash.net