China’s rare earth dominance casts shadow over Europe’s ambitious climate targets
- China provides 98 per cent of the minerals needed to power a clean economy, top official says
- But with Chinese companies also hoovering up resources around the world, EU has limited options, experts say
As the looks to hit ambitious climate targets, policymakers are getting more vocal about a potential fork in the road: China.In a speech touting the bloc’s “industry strategy” this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed to the scarcity of raw materials needed to power the switch to electric vehicles and green energy sources, much of which are buried in China.
“We import lithium for electric cars, platinum to produce clean hydrogen, silicon metal for solar panels,” she said at the Industry Days 2021 event early this week.
“Ninety-eight per cent of the we need come from a single supplier: China. This is not sustainable. So we must diversify our supply chains.”In Europe, too, as anti-China sentiment runs high, there is recognition of just how dependent its future economic strategy will hinge on the availability of Chinese minerals.
“If China were to cut off the tap to the EU, it would create a significant problem, not only for the EU, but also for China,” said David Merriman, manager of the battery and electric vehicle materials division at research firm Roskill.
“The EU is a major market for rare earth products and the impact of cutting off [minerals] would likely see a development of a trade war between China and the rest of the world. China holds the cards in this exchange, but would suffer also if it plays its hand,” he said.
Brussels has launched a flurry of investment plans and committees designed to shore up supplies, setting up the European Raw Materials Alliance and sponsoring the Global Rare Earth Industry Association (REIA). It allocated €3 billion (US$3.65 billion) of its Covid-19 recovery fund to developing a European rare earth supply chain.
Paul Atherley is the chairman of Pensana Rare Earths, a British company planning a rare earth oxide magnet metal processing facility in Saltend, northern England.
He hopes to bring 5 to 10 per cent of the world’s supply of neodymium and praseodymium – commonly known as NdPr and vital to the production of magnets for wind turbines and electric vehicles – online for British and EU markets, sourcing from mines in Angola.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3123162/chinas-rare-earth-dominance-casts-shadow-over-europes“It’s quite a big plant, but we need basically 10 Saltends [if Europe is to be self-sufficient], and while our next step would be to expand, there’s no avoiding that this is a major challenge,” Atherley said.
