The election campaign in Quebec has begun, and of course it is expected that issues relating to the environment and the energy transition will be addressed. Among these, there is the role that Quebec can play in the broader context of the world.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
Absent from the geopolitics of energy, which has been structured around oil and gas for more than a century, Quebec now has the possibility of becoming a player of choice thanks to the transition to renewable.
Increased mineral requirements
With this energy transition already well underway, we will increasingly use batteries, solar panels and wind turbines, which have a common characteristic: they require a lot of minerals.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) as well as the World Bank indicate that to arrive at a decarbonized world in 2050, the production of several minerals will have to increase by at least 500% 1.
For example, electric vehicles, the demand for which is expected to increase sixfold by 2030, require six times more minerals than a gasoline-powered vehicle. For its part, the production of one terawatt hour of electricity from wind power, Quebec’s current priority, requires 200% more minerals than production from a gas plant.2.
The needs are gigantic and the States have understood this. For the past few years, to meet these needs, the governments of the United States, the European Union, Australia, Quebec and soon Canada (in consultation on this issue until September 15) have adopted strategies aimed at increasing their domestic production and building reliable supply chains outside China.
It is that the Asian giant, warns the IEA, controls large segments of the production and refining of minerals. So much so that China notably controls 80% of the global solar panel industry.3with environmental and social practices well below international standards.
For its part, Quebec is, as we know, a mining power. It has generous reserves of minerals necessary for the energy transition: lithium, graphite, nickel… Moreover, Quebec industry, having learned from the mistakes of the past, has adopted some of the most demanding environmental and social practices in the world. This is an asset, because many buyers will want to ensure the transparency and ethical nature of these supplies.
The global race for minerals is on, and the first to find a place for themselves, in extraction and processing, will have a marked advantage over their competitors.
Despite this commercial potential and the undeniable assets of Quebec, including its hydroelectricity to mitigate the environmental externalities of mining activities, we do not observe among the political parties in the electoral campaign any interest or mobilization to make Quebec a key player in the continental and global energy transition.
Apart from the mining community and its partners, Quebec as a whole seems unaware of this opportunity to sit down at the table with influential players.
Hence the importance of debating this issue in greater depth. As we know, it is increasingly difficult in developed countries to build energy projects and infrastructures. The threshold of social acceptability is higher.
The question must therefore be asked: do we want more mining activities in Quebec or not to support the energy transition?
Political parties should indicate whether they have the ambition to raise public awareness of the issues related to the contribution that Quebec can make in this major transformation of the global energy landscape required by decarbonization.
The programs of Quebec’s political parties currently give relatively little space to this question. The current election campaign, however, offers a great opportunity for citizens, the media and civil society to verify the nature and extent of their commitment and their ambition on this important issue for the positioning of Quebec in the new global geopolitics of the ‘energy.