and other local firms and industries seeking subsidies for production of hydrogen, lithium hydroxide and other clean energy materials to prevent investment being sucked to the US.
“So if you want to think about creating the largest multiplication effect of government spending, very likely the very worst way to do the spending is ... direct industry subsidies. The federal government’s $20 billion Rewiring the Nation fund is for large transmission projects, but these are held up by community opposition. Thewas carved out because of fears the IRA would lure projects to the US. Several billion dollars have already been allocated to critical minerals projects to help the West wean itself off Chinese dominance of supply chains.
Rather, he says, electrification drives most of the decarbonisation and “couples all the sectors you have to think about industry and residential and commercial and transportation all at once”.