Abstract

"China's Lithium Strategy in Latin America: Electric Vehicles, Energy Transition and Environmental Controversy"

Yuan Jia Zheng, International University of Catalonia (yuan.jia19@gmail.com)

The international shift toward electric mobility has elevated lithium as a strategic raw material essential for producing batteries and electric vehicles (EVs). While EVs are widely promoted as alternatives to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles for reducing CO₂ emissions, the extraction of strategic resources such as lithium has raised serious environmental and social concerns. China’s leadership in EV and battery production reveals an environmental paradox: although the country has become a key actor in the transition to clean energy, lithium extraction simultaneously generates ecological impacts and social tensions that undermine sustainability, particularly in resource-dependent economies. Despite China’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, its resource diplomacy often collides with the environmental and social priorities of host economies. This paper examines China’s government strategy to secure access to “white gold” in Latin America—specifically in the “Lithium Triangle” of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile—since the 2000s and explores the implications of these investments for the alignment between climate goals and environmental governance. It addresses the central question: What has been China’s strategy to secure access to Latin American lithium? The paper argues that Chinese state-owned enterprises have secured lithium resources in Latin America primarily through substantial direct investment in the extractive sector.