The Ethics of Rare Earth Elements Over Time and Space - 2020

Rare Earth Deposits & Mining

Martin and Iles reported in 2020 that rare earths are a critical resource for contemporary societies. Among their diverse uses, they are key components of sustainability technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehicles. While rare earths can help societies transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy and conserve energy, their extraction, processing, and use creates serious environmental and social effects around the world, especially in China. 

The authors claim that environmental justice and intergenerational justice concepts can provide an ethical framework for navigating this green energy bargain. The authors reviewed the environmental and social effects that rare earth production causes and the changing geography of production that means these effects are being distributed worldwide, both in and beyond China. Finally, the authors propose several strategies that miners, manufacturers, designers, and users could use to achieve greater environmental justice and intergenerational justice, now and for the future.

The authors concluded that participants in the REE industry have a moral obligation to use these materials in an ethical manner by advancing environmental justice and intergenerational justice. REE value chains are complex, with rare earths feeding into many different end-uses. The increasing demand for REEs has encouraged investors to expand the geography of REE mining to avoid dependency on Chinese imports subject to price spikes.

The large-scale mining industry’s poor record of environmental destruction and human rights abuses [Where and by what country/company?] will continue in order to meet REE demand unless more ethical strategies are developed for sourcing REEs. One of the best ways for REE consumers to advance environmental justice and intergenerational justice is to make REE reclamation a product-centric circular economy [All non-China REE mining and processing companies are required these days by local, state, and federal regulatory agencies to meet reclamation regulations. Even China is beginning to require responsible practices of reclamation.]. However, consumer products represent only one segment of the REE industry. Where possible, product designers, material scientists, geologists, hydrogeologists, and engineers should fully take into account the risks and limitations of relying on such resources and design new products to reduce the use of REEs [The authors must be from another planet (aka naive)].