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EXPERT COMMENT

Rare earth elements are essential for the green transition but the accelerating geopolitical race to reduce dependence on China carries great environmental risks.

Rare earth elements are essential for the green transition. Rare earth magnets are used in a wide range of green technologies, including wind turbines and electric vehicles (EVs). But their extraction and processing also have significant environmental impacts, including toxic waste, water pollution and ecosystem destruction.

In the global race to secure rare earth elements and reduce dependence on China’s dominance in mining, refining and magnet production, countries are increasingly turning to more remote and technically challenging frontiers. Nothing illustrates this more vividly than Japan’s latest feat of extracting rare earth-rich seabed mud from the Pacific Ocean – 5,700 metres below the surface. It’s the world’s first attempt to raise rare earths from such extreme ocean depths. 

But attention is also turning to land-based deposits in remote and ecologically sensitive regions such as the Amazon in Brazil. The Amazon has an estimated 21 billion tonnes of rare earth reserves, the second-largest reserves after China, according to the US Geological Survey. But the region is also home to some of the world’s richest biodiversity that play a critical role in regulating the global climate, and located on or nearby Indigenous community territories.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.