GSD Research Spotlight: What’s All the Fuss About Rare Earths?

The below article outlines projects relating to Rare Earth Elements that members of staff in GSD recently completed. The work was initiated by funding from the British Academy's scheme Just Transitions within Sectors and Industries Globally.

What’s All the Fuss About Rare Earths?

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are at the heart of some of today’s most pressing geopolitical and environmental challenges. If you are wondering why President Donald Trump is so fixated on REEs in Ukraine and Greenland, new research from a team of researchers in Global Sustainable Development (GSD) at the University of Warwick offers some answers.

Led by Professor Mandy Sadan, Dr David Brown, and Dr Ronghui (Kevin) Zhou, alongside Professor Dan Smyer Yü (University of Cologne) and the Kachinland Research Centre, Myanmar, their research project, Rare Earths in the Just Transition: Connecting Global Inequalities in the REE Commodity Chain, was funded by the British Academy. The work was later expanded through further research led by Dr Patrick Meehan, now at the University of Manchester.

REEs are essential for modern high-tech products, from smartphones to wind turbines and electric vehicles. They play a crucial role in achieving carbon-zero targets, yet their extraction comes with severe consequences for many communities in mining regions. The research focuses particularly on Myanmar, a key supplier of REEs that are then processed in China—a nation that dominates the global REEs sector.

China’s control over the REEs market has sparked tensions, with the United States seeking to secure its own supply. The research sheds light on debates behind these international power struggles over resources while also highlighting the often-overlooked human and environmental costs of REEs extraction.

The Hidden Cost of Rare Earths: New Insights from a Special Issue & Briefings

For those interested in the academic debates surrounding REEs, the research team has curated a Special Issue of Extractive Industries and Society: ‘Rare Earths and Critical Minerals in the Planetary Just Transition: Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Upstream-Downstream Supply Chains in the Drive for a Low Carbon Transition’. This open-access volume features ten articles from leading scholars working on a variety of issues relating to REEs globally and builds on discussions from a workshop held at the conclusion of the project. It will be helpful for developing reading lists on REEs, especially critical concerns about how REEs mining is regulated, among other things. In addition, four Briefing Papers are available for those who want to learn more about the context and effects of illicit mining in Kachin State, Myanmar - see here. This is a preliminary list but will hopefully provide some useful entry points.

Bringing the Conversation to the Classroom

To help educators integrate REEs into their teaching at the secondary level and above, the team has developed a Futurelearn MOOC, Global Inequalities in the Just Transition. This online course can be used as a stand-alone study resource or integrated with wrap-around teaching. It has already been successfully used in collaboration with local institutions, civil society organizations, and activists in Myanmar who wanted to understand their local concerns from a broader, global perspective. A highlight of the MOOC is the life story of a miner from Kachin State and his experiences of working in the mines. The course is free to access if completed within four weeks from enrolment and is suitable for university students, school learners exploring super-curricular activities perhaps with a view to enhancing their university applications, and secondary sector educators looking to enrich their teaching materials. Teachers in the secondary sector may also be interested in the indicative guide that the team has compiled with suggestions about how REEs can be incorporated as a case study into different A Level curricula across a range of subjects.

Why This Matters

The global demand for REEs is growing, and so too are the ethical and environmental dilemmas associated with their extraction. Understanding these issues is key to shaping a more just and sustainable future. Whether you are an academic, a teacher, a student, or simply curious about the geopolitics of the green transition, this research provides valuable insights into one of the world’s most critical and contested resources.