TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT & APPLICATION
RARE EARTH INDUSTRY TOWARDS CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION: STRATEGISING THE PARTNERSHIP TOWARDS ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT RARE EARTHS ARE NOT THAT RARE
OUR CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION DEPENDS ON RARE EARTH The rare earth industry is currently being dominated by China with an integrated supply chain from upstream, midstream, to downstream. Its strong presence may pose a challenge for Malaysia to compete in terms of momentum and capacity within the industry. However, the question remains: Can Malaysia venture into this emerging industry, and do we have sufficient mineral resources to develop this industry which can provide multiple effects to other industries and technologies growth?
It is known as rare earth elements; however, it is not rare since the elements are the essential part of many high-tech devices and can be found in appliances such as mobile phones, laptops, and components for the instruments in cars. And yet, not everyone is aware that rare earth has been playing a significant role in product manufacturing, contributing towards national economic growth. In this context, there is a huge opportunity for Malaysia to embrace this strategic industry and its role in the development of technology for high- end product manufacturing. Rare earth elements which comprise of 17 key elements offer vast opportunities for the emerging manufacturing industry application and is currently in high demand. With the advantageous characteristics and properties of the elements, rare earths are suitable for various potential industry applications such as energy, automotive, consumer electronics, defence, and healthcare.
The development of the rare earth industry ecosystem with integrated supply chain will provide the opportunity for the country to spearhead the high- end manufacturing activities for the low carbon emissions-based products in key sectors such as energy and automotive. Rare earth is essential in electric vehicles, wind turbine, batteries, solar panels, catalyst, and other products. These products provide key advantages to deliver high energy performance with less carbon emissions and will support towards the green wave electrification and net- zero emissions.
This is also aligned with the latest direction based on the pledge made in the RMK 12 for Malaysia to be carbon neutral by 2050. Besides this, several of our national policies such as DTN 2022-2040, MyRER, Hydrogen Economy and Technology Roadmap (HETR) and National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) have outlined strategies for clean energy transition in the future. With the potential of rare earth resources, Malaysia will have the opportunity to manufacture high-end products of low carbon emission energy technology and create an integrated ecosystem from upstream to downstream, and thus become technology makers instead of technology users. This will also address our previous obstacle of adopting new technology due to the high capital requirements as we need to procure the products and technology from foreign players.
Malaysian Technology Strategic Outlook 2023/2024 Energy, Healthcare & Space Industry 60
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