In One Sentence

• The Energy Department will issue a report of its solar supply chain review this fall, ahead of the administration’s original February deadline.
• The White House said that the U.S. should increase investing in countries rich in critical minerals to challenge China’s dominance in the industry.
• The Biden administration hopes to create export opportunities for U.S. clean energy technologies by investing in the infrastructure of developing countries.

Mark the Essentials

• Clean energy industry representatives have called for an acceleration of the solar supply chain review, noting that uncertainties around solar-related trade policy and supply chain bottlenecks are having a significantly negative impact.
• The Biden administration is looking at providing developing countries with capital to invest in mining as well as in processing facilities of multiple key critical minerals, “particularly for the electric vehicle battery space.”
• When advocating for G7’s “Build Back Better World,” White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese marked the need to expand into foreign markets with clean energy technologies such as those related to electric vehicles, solar, and wind.

Keeping an Eye On…

• The Biden administration has maintained a brisk pace on its supply chain reviews. After completing four 100-day supply chain reviews, its attention has turned to the 1-year sectoral supply chain assessments, with the solar chain assessment at the front of this queue. This is unsurprising, given that the solar supply chain has been in the crosshairs of the administration’s interest—both, because of its emphasis on clean energy as well as the unsavoury reality that much of this supply chain runs frontally through China’s Xinjiang region. On a similar note, the Biden administration is keen to address critical mineral supplies to reduce its dependency on China. Its 100-day supply chain review of large capacity batteries, issued earlier this June, was eye-opening in terms of revealing the extent to which China maintains a lock over this critical sub-sector as well as some of the key mineral inputs that are critical to upstream processing. The U.S., understandably, prefers that greater diversification set-in, including by assisting mineral-rich developing countries, so as to enhance the resilience of these critical, clean energy-related supply chains and technologies. 

Expanded Reading

• Launch | The Mosaic Approach: A Critical Minerals Supply Chain Report, Event by the Wilson Center, October 18
• Heeding industry calls, DOE hastens solar supply chain review, Inside U.S. Trade, October 15 [Paywall]
• Brian Deese on the vision behind the G7’s Build Back Better World Initiative, Event by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, October 7