Energy & Natural Resources in the Asia-Pacific market
Discover the topic of energy and natural resources in the Asia-Pacific legal market as discovered during the research into this year's Chambers Asia-Pacific guide.
Energy & Natural Resources a key driver in the last year
Energy & Natural Resources has been a key driver of activity over the last year. As these quotes from sources in the Australian market indicate, this has been a busy area of work for law firms:
"There is a lot of investment in technologies relating to emissions - Australia has launched a number of large-scale funding programs for this stuff."
"An ongoing theme is around green loans, sustainability linked and social loans. Its a major theme for corporate Australia."
"The renewables sector is really, really hot at this moment."
Within this area, activity in the EV battery space is a particularly thriving area for law firms and their clients across Asia-Pacific, driven by the push towards electric vehicles.
In Indonesia, for example, its biggest IPOs are in the nickel mining and energy sector. EVs currently use lithium-ion batteries which use lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite. Indonesia, as one of the world’s largest producers of both cobalt and nickel, is well-placed to establish itself as major player in the supply chains for EV batteries. The country is attracting foreign investment, mainly through joint ventures with companies from South Korea, China – currently the biggest EV market in the world - and Europe.
Australia, a main exporter of lithium, is also seeing project financing for EV batteries, as well as battery energy storage systems.
Interviewees have also highlighted a continued focus on work in the area of Social, ESG and sustainability-linked bonds. Despite this being an underdeveloped product in Asia and debt markets across the globe being down, many anticipate this to be an area of growth. There have already been a few notable issuances, such as Hong Kong’s triple-currency green bond, raising 5.75 billion US dollars in the largest ESG issuance in Asia to date.
Last year, Singapore issued its first sovereign green bond. And the Australian government have announced that it will be releasing their first sovereign green bond middle of next year. Impact Investment’s Exchange’s Women’s Livelihood Bonds are some of the world’s first orange bonds, focused on gender lens and empowering women across Asia and Africa.