OIES Podcast – Unpacking China’s dominance in rare earths

In this podcast from the OIES China programme, Michal Meidan talks to Philip Andrews-Speed and Anders Hove about their forthcoming paper. They discuss the importance of rare earths, how China became dominant in its mining and processing and how Western governments are responding to this vulnerability. Rare earth elements are becoming increasingly important for the low-carbon energy transition given their application in batteries and permanent magnets for wind turbines and electric vehicles. Today, China accounts for about 70 per cent of rare earth ore extraction and about 90 per cent of processing and refining to produce rare earth metals. China’s dominance of the rare earth supply chain is increasingly seen as a risk for the West and its energy transition.

By: OIES