Japan And Canada To Collaborate On Building Supply Chain For Battery Components

Japan and Canada are talking about collaborating to build strong supply chains for battery metals, according to Japan's industry minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, on Tuesday.

According to him, a public-private mission led by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and comprised of 16 battery companies visited Canada last week for discussions on building sustainable and resilient supply chains.

"Canada has an abundance of battery metals and good market access to the United States," Nishimura told a news conference.

"Canada is one of the most important countries for Japan when it comes to strengthening our supply chains of storage battery metals," he said.

He declined to discuss the talks in detail, but said he would take advantage of various opportunities, including the upcoming G7 ministerial meeting, to strengthen cooperation with Canada.

As the Group of Seven (G7) chair this year, Japan will host a ministerial meeting on climate, energy, and environment in Sapporo on April 15-16, ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21, to promote what it calls a realistic energy transition.

Batteries are critical for Japan's goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 because they are the most important technology in the electrification of automobiles and other devices and are critical for increasing the adoption of renewable energy.