Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Karim Zaghib. I currently hold two positions. I am a professor of practice at McGill University and a strategic advisor with Investissement Québec. Before that, I was a researcher for 26 years and also served as general director of Hydro-Québec's Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage. I have 35 years of experience in the energy sector. I have developed research, particularly regarding the circular economy, with an interest in materials, from mining to mobility to recycling.
Critical minerals and rare metals are very important for the energy sector, especially for the energy transition, and for health, economic and military applications. Several countries, including China and the United States, classify critical materials and rare metals as national security issues. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce website, the United States classified 35 such minerals in 2018.
Nearly all of those minerals can be found in Quebec, including aluminum, indium, titanium and niobium. Some great opportunities lie ahead for Canada.
I will speak more specifically about batteries, since that's my area of expertise. Batteries, particularly lithium-ion batteries, have an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte. Anode materials such as graphite, silicon and copper can be found in Canada. This is also true regarding the cathode with aluminum, nickel, cobalt and manganese, for example. So these materials are readily found in Canada.
What matters most is this.
We need Canada to have a stable and secure supply chain with zero CO2 emissions. We need collaboration between provinces and also with the United States.
These are great opportunities. Right now, 85% of lithium-ion batteries are produced in China, Japan and Korea. You have OEMs in Ontario, in the U.S. and also here in Quebec.
The stable supply chain here in Canada respects human rights because we have no kids working in mines. We need to think about a strategic plan between our government and also the relationship between the private sector and government sectors.
The opportunity is right here and we do not want Canada to become like Africa, just selling our natural resources to others. We need to make the first transformation here, the second transformation and so on.
Don't forget, we have talented engineers and we have the best universities here. Our universities here in Canada are similar to what they have in Boston or the Silicon Valley and so on. Beyond that, we have creativity. We have one of the largest portfolios of patents and license technologies to many companies worldwide.
I want to really see great collaboration and also to think about transportation of our materials and so on. As you know, when you spoke about lithium, the basis of lithium-ion is the lithium. We have at least six places in Quebec for lithium. Then when you see batteries, for example, Elon Musk says we need nickel. We have nickel here in Canada. We have all the materials here.
I would just like to conclude with...stable, secure, less CO2 emissions, the trustability of our natural resources and to create jobs in North America.