The “green revolution” toward a more carbon-neutral future has focused greatly on developments in developing economies. On Jan. 20, Bolivia granted access to China’s battery manufacturing giant CTAL to help develop its lithium domestic industrial base, defeating competing companies from the United States and Russia. Such efforts have been framed by the Bolivian government, going back to the previous Morales administration, partly to redistribute the benefits of industrializing the Uyuni salt flats, the largest lithium reservoir in the world, and to uplift its economy.

This is in stark contrast to a recent occurrence in Indonesia: In Morowali, Central Sulawesi, labor protests on Jan. 14 related to the ferronickel smelter operations of China-backed PT Gunbuster Nickel Industri (GNI) resulted in violence and the deaths of three workers.

Local police were deployed to quell the protests, which were prompted by workers’ demands for safer working conditions and higher wages, as well as criticism of the discrepancy in privileges between foreign and local workers. Meanwhile, the police claimed the protests had been instigated by union workers that had forced other workers to join.

Despite the difference in outcomes, one common theme both events share is the centrality of welfare, with capital as the currency. It is arguably the single greatest reason why developing countries are willing to bear the costs of adapting to the demands of those with the technology to develop the renewable energy industry. The desire to detach from spiking fossil fuel costs and attain demonstrable economic benefits is so great that these issues were highlighted at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos to attract more developing countries to follow suit.

While pursuing renewable energy is certainly an important endeavor to ensure the continued survival of the human species, it is nevertheless subject to politics between sovereign states.

Two important aspects need to be highlighted here: One, while developing countries may possess large deposits of ores for renewable energy, they do not necessarily have the technological and financial capabilities to extract and provide added value to these minerals, necessitating ties with advanced economies to obtain technology-sharing privileges; two, considering the huge starting investment required start such projects, it is in the best interest of these advanced economies to stimulate the recipient country’s growth so as to induce high returns, or at least to reorient the recipient country’s economic alignment closer to theirs.

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