- Multilateral forums could be developed to bring together investors, miners, processors, OEMs, renewable energy developers, governments and civil society to facilitate cross-industry exchange and collaboration for decarbonisation. Just Energy Transition Partnerships[1] could act as a model for collaboration and dialogue.
- Governments and the private sector should consider collaborating to develop mining hubs [2] in key nickel producing countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. These hubs could act as multi-stakeholder platforms to pool resources for research and development and knowledge exchange, and provide a space to collaboratively develop context-specific roadmaps for decarbonisation. In addition, the hubs could group small and medium suppliers into collectives to facilitate the development of suitable renewable energy options.
- Vertical and horizontal integration provide opportunities for reducing carbon emissions by creating symbiotic relationships. Co-locating connected industries in clusters would reduce emissions from transportation and enable companies to share costs of investing in firming and storage to allow for innovative solutions for grid stability, development of transmission networks and the provision of system services; reduce risk and increase return for investors; keep more value in producing countries and increase the value of nickel products. It also has the potential to facilitate a lifecycle approach, creating local ecosystems by sharing resources between businesses. A life cycle assessment of the nickel industry in a pilot location could help understand where such clustering and integration would increase the feasibility of renewable energy.
- Dialogue, cooperation and collaboration are key to enabling decarbonisation of the nickel supply chain. Governments should work closely with nickel producing and processing countries to find mutually beneficial opportunities for dialogue, knowledge exchange and innovation. The concentration of nickel production and processing in Southeast Asia means engagement could take place through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Thought should also be given on how to also include China, Japan and South Korea in these discussions as key players in the region. Given current geopolitical tensions, opportunities should also be sought to facilitate dialogue between the US and China. The UK could play an important role in convening relevant engagement opportunities.
