Minerals are a hot topic these days - and for good reason. The energy transition requires an enormous production of Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries, wind-turbine magnets, solar panels, grid infrastructure and much more. And for this, you need a range of different minerals. No surprise then that as the energy transition has accelerated, so has demand for minerals. In fact, the market size for key energy-transition minerals doubled from 115 billion in 2017, to 230 billion USD in 2022.
A region that should have been in the spotlight of the mineral discussion, is South East Asia. Did you know that ASEAN's mineral base includes nearly half of global nickel and a fifth of rare earths - core inputs for EV batteries, wind turbines and solar infrastructure? That Viet Nam hosts one of the biggest rare earth element deposits globally, while bauxite, copper, tin and cobalt are widely distributed across the region? Or that Indonesia alone is the world’s leading nickel producer and the Philippines the second-largest?
Probably not. And the reason is under investment in the region.
The market sits on the fence, mainly because of two reasons:
It's a double loss: The world could face bottlenecks in copper, nickel and rare earths, delaying the energy and climate transition; ASEAN Member States could also lose out on jobs, industrial capability and long-term value creation.
It's not all dark, though.
Between 2020 and 2024, ASEAN Member States attracted over USD 10 billion in foreign direct investment into mining. Yet, in 2024, Indonesia captured more than half of all inflows and Malaysia nearly half again. The reason? They have well-established downstream industries.
First of all, governments must invest in better geological data and open, updated cadastres. Secondly, permitting needs to become more efficient, effective and predictable while holding firm on environmental and social safeguards. And finally, downstreaming for value addition. Fiscal stability, infrastructure and workforce development will be critical to attract capital and ensure that value is captured locally.
SEforALL has been closely engaged in this agenda. Supported by the UK Mission to ASEAN through the ASEAN-UK Green Transition Fund and in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, we have produced the ASEAN Mineral Policy and Investment Guidebook, soon to be launched. The guidebook provides the first comprehensive, region-wide overview of policies, investment climate and resource endowments. It also diagnoses the barriers to exploration and investment and sets out practical reforms.
The ASEAN Mineral Policy and Investment Guidebook builds on the ASEAN Energy Transition and Investment Roadmap (ETIR), currently being developed by SEforALL and the ASEAN Centre for Energy. The roadmap identifies the clean energy technologies ASEAN will need in the future, which in turn helps determine the region’s demand for critical minerals. By linking energy demand–supply pathways with the region’s minerals base, SEforALL is helping ASEAN design a truly integrated roadmap where clean energy, industrialisation and resource sustainability move hand in hand.
In addition, SEforALL has convened policymakers and investors through ASEAN working groups, ensuring that discussions on minerals are about sustainability, industrialisation and equitable development, as much as extraction.
In this way, Southeast Asia could define the pace and scale of the global shift to clean energy - as it should.
