The perils of going green with REEs

The climate summit COP27 in Egypt agreed to set up a fund to aid developing countries that suffered “loss and damage” as a result of climate change. Though there was no agreement on the emission control of fossil fuel driven economies, phasing down climate-damaging emissions is the agreed-upon goal of most countries.

The practicalities of transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable green energy depend on the supply of rare earth elements (REEs), which play a crucial role in implementing these solutions on the ground. Clean energy initiatives like wind turbines, solar panels, or electric vehicles require rare earth materials like cobalt, lithium, and high-end magnets, which in fact drive the green technology.

Are REEs really rare? What kind of supply chain is required to meet the ever increasing demand for REEs? India’s dream of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 depends on its ability to produce them locally with a short gestation period.

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Rare Earth Elements are not really “rare.” These are a group of 17 elements: 15 lanthanides, scandium, and yttrium. The earth’s crust has an abundance of them, but in low concentrations, and they are hard to separate from other minerals. This is why they are called rare; the process of separating them from mines is not only lengthy but also highly polluting.

Firstly, the raw material is mined from nearby sites, and at the second stage of processing, holes are drilled into the earth to insert rubber hoses that pump chemicals. Rare earth is then flushed out of the earth in the form of slurry. At the third stage of processing, these are poured into the leaching ponds, which are laden with a second round of chemicals to extract REEs.

Each tonne of REEs produces approximately 2,000 tonnes of toxic waste; the process of extraction is known to be the most toxic process in the industrial world.

China controls 95 per cent of the world’s REEs market, having mastered the technology of processing REEs. This monopoly control over such strategic material was achieved through a well-planned strategy over decades. Countries such as the EU, US, EU, and India import the majority of it from China, which has become a REE superpower.

China’s monopoly over the processing ecosystem of REEs and the final product comes at huge human and ecological costs. The world’s biggest REEs processing plant is located in Baotou, in the province of Inner Mongolia. The entire region is desolate, with high levels of air pollution, contamination of natural water systems, and toxic waste.

As one of the Chinese rare metal experts said, “We have sacrificed our environment to supply the entire planet with rare earths.” Developed countries, including the US and EU, kept quiet over the years as they could get cheap supplies of REEs from China. They have outsourced the toxic process while reaping the benefits of green energy.

India squandered its unique opportunity to be in the race for REEs. Indian Rare Earth Limited, a public sector undertaking, was formed in 1949. Without any direction and a lack of commitment, it exports low-value rare earth ores to China and imports the finished products.

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Ironically, with 35 per cent of the world’s beach and sand minerals, India has the fourth largest deposits of rare earth, but in order to drive our green energy sector, we depend on imports. The monopoly over REEs over decades will cost us dearly, as establishing a fresh processing ecosystem will take years to yield results.

As most countries strive for net zero carbon emissions, the production of rare earth elements must be doubled every 15 years. This is essential to satisfying the demands for non-ferrous magnets and lithium batteries that drive the green transition. The supply is most likely to come from mines opened in fragile areas like tropical forests of Brazil.

Additionally, REEs are one of the crucial raw materials in modern defence systems. In the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, Turkish-built Bayraktar drones have successfully halted the Russian army. REEs play a major role in modern F35 fighter planes built by the US and Turkish drones. It is also believed that the rich deposits of REEs on Ukraine’s eastern border are one of the reasons for Russian occupation.

Both the defence and green energy sectors are already creating heightened demand to mine, process, and control the finished products. In order to get it at a cheap price, the scramble for REEs has already begun. Unfortunately, this will lead to unimaginable ecological and human costs.

According to Guillaume Pitron, a French investigative journalist, “In the next three decades, the extraction of mines and minerals would exceed what humans have extracted over the past 75 000 years.”

That is not only frightening, but it also demonstrates industrial economies’ insatiable desire to plunder the earth’s resources in order to mitigate the negative effects of a fossil-fuel economy.

(The writer is a Uttara Kannada-based environmentalist)