Code, Copper and Carbon: 2026 Australian Arbitration Week Recap on Geopolitics and National Security

This post recaps a panel from Australian Arbitration Week 2026. The panel looked at how national security and economic nationalism are pushing more disputes into arbitration across three areas: data, copper, and carbon. For clean energy readers, the useful parts are the copper and carbon sections. Lithium nationalization in Mexico, the AVZ case in the DRC, and energy security measures after the Strait of Hormuz crisis are all turning into treaty claims or contract fights. Companies are responding by adding political risk protections, longer supply contracts, and what one speaker called a security premium. That raises costs for critical minerals and energy, which can feed into project finance and carbon pricing. The article is written for arbitration lawyers, but the underlying trends matter for anyone tracking clean energy supply chains and climate policy.