Critical minerals and the role of India-Australia partnership for economic security: exploring macro trends, risks and opportunities

Project description

The current geopolitics around energy transitions is facilitating new partnerships so that countries are self-reliant in their energy needs. The proposed project focuses on one such strategic partnership: the Critical Minerals Investment Partnership between India and Australia, signed in 2022-23, to address the unprecedented demand for critical minerals for use in low-carbon technologies necessary for decarbonisation. The Partnership is a significant step in ensuring a secure, stable and responsible critical minerals supply chain, and the implementation of Make in India/Future Make for Australia .

This project will analyse key macro trends including, but not limited to, shifts in regional energy systems, global commodity prices, supply and demand dynamics, and geopolitical shifts to better understand how this Partnership is currently being operationalised. Doing so will enable the project to pre-emptively identify potential risks and opportunities for both India and Australia that may impede and/or foster progress towards achieving the Partnership’s goals.

The project aims to undertake an exploratory study to map current progress on the ground since the announcement of the Partnership and develop an understanding of the global, regional and local trends potentially influencing critical minerals supply chain and relevant investment for Australia and India.

Specific objectives include:
– To map and characterise the nature of ongoing and planned developments under this partnership
– To pre-emptively highlight the socio-economic, cultural, geopolitical, and institutional risks and barriers that may affect a secure and stable supply of critical minerals development (in Australia) and potential implications for downstream processing and manufacturing supply chain (in India).

The project will entail a mixed-methods approach, employing both quantitative (e.g., exploratory data analysis, econometrics) and qualitative (e.g., expert interviews, survey) tools. The research will be built on critically assessed existing theoretical and analytical framings on energy, economic and mineral security.

Outcomes

We expect the project to contribute to growing scholarship on energy transitions, critical minerals-related industrial policy and development, and economic security. The project will generate knowledge on factors that influence the global supply and demand of critical minerals, conditions that enable responsible mining and exploration of critical minerals in Australia, as well as opportunities for India’s investment in critical minerals mining overseas.

Specifically, the proposed outputs include:

– Two academic papers in high-impact journals such as Energy Policy, Business and Society, and Energy Research and Social Science.
– A global atlas of critical mineral value chains relevant to India
– A white paper on ‘Global trends influencing India’s access to critical minerals’ to be presented to various stakeholders, including political leadership (MPs MLAs, regional leaders), bureaucrats in relevant ministries and geographies, and business leaders in coal regions. This paper will be shared in a cross-sectoral stakeholder workshop proposed to be held at IIT Delhi.

All outputs will be made publicly available.

Project Significance:

The project addresses a strategic area of ongoing policy interest in both countries. In the long-term, this project will strengthen bilateral relations between Australia and India on energy trade and investment.

Over the short to medium term, the project outcomes will position UQ and lITD to demonstrate early thought leadership on pathways to operationalising the Partnership that will, in turn, contribute to deeper engagement between the two countries on minerals supply and investment.

Outcomes from the project will seed long-term collaboration and provide the basis for an external funding
application with the Australia India Research Strategic Fund.

Essential capabilities

It is expected that the student would be broadly interested in the topic of energy transitions and macro-/global- economy. Background in economics, public policy, business studies, international relations and social science (including political science, development, human geography) will be helpful.

Desireable capabilities

Some prior knowledge of global/ macro trend analysis will be expected in onboarding. Knowledge of GIS and basic statistical tools for data analysis will also be useful. Strong communication skills along with an understanding of mixed-methods approach to research (qualitative/ quantitative social science). Also willingness to travel for interviews and other forms of data collection will be desirable.

Expected qualifications (Course/Degrees etc.)

M.A. (Public Policy or political science or Economics or Commerce)