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The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging. Nature 2023; 619:436. [PMID: 37468589 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-023-02330-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
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Abstract
China's rare earth export trade has developed so rapidly since 1990s that China has gradually occupied a leading position in the international market. However, this fast development was proceeding at the cost of the rare earth energy consumption and environmental devastation. Now China begins to attach great importance to environmental protection, which attracts many researchers. This study aims to analyze the influence of environmental regulation on China's rare earth export trade. And the original study is amongst the few to examine the relationship between environmental regulation and China's rare earth export with the product-level data. Different from previous studies, this paper selects China's rare earth export data from 1995 to 2015 and introduces product heterogeneity based on the rare earth production process. Moreover, this study uses the entropy weight method to measure the intensity of environmental regulation. The core conclusions are as follows: (1) Environmental regulation significantly promotes rather than restrains China's rare earth export. (2) According to the rare earth production process, this paper divides rare earth products into 3 kinds, that is, rare earth raw materials, rare earth useful components and rare earth end-use applications. Then, it is found that rare earth useful component export in processing and smelting is positively affected by environmental regulation. Rare earth raw materials and end-use applications in China's export are hardly affected. (3) Technological innovation has a mediating effect on the impact mechanism of environmental regulation on China's rare earth export, which means that environmental regulation significantly promotes technological innovation of enterprises, and thereby the rare earth export is increased. The findings are helpful for policymakers to resolve the issue of environmental devastation.
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Affiliation(s)
- An Pan
- School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Shuangshuang Feng
- School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Xinyuan Hu
- School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Yaya Li
- School of Finance & Economics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
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Wang X, Ge J, Wei W, Li H, Wu C, Zhu G. Spatial Dynamics of the Communities and the Role of Major Countries in the International Rare Earths Trade: A Complex Network Analysis. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0154575. [PMID: 27137779 PMCID: PMC4854386 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2016] [Accepted: 04/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Rare earths (RE) are critical materials in many high-technology products. Due to the uneven distribution and important functions for industrial development, most countries import RE from a handful of suppliers that are rich in RE, such as China. However, because of the rapid growth of RE exploitation and pollution of the mining and production process, some of the main suppliers have gradually tended to reduce the RE production and exports. Especially in the last decade, international RE trade has been changing in the trade community and trade volume. Based on complex network theory, we built an unweighted and weighted network to explore the evolution of the communities and identify the role of the major countries in the RE trade. The results show that an international RE trade network was dispersed and unstable because of the existence of five to nine trade communities in the unweighted network and four to eight trade communities in the weighted network in the past 13 years. Moreover, trade groups formed due to the great influence of geopolitical relations. China was often associated with the South America and African countries in the same trade group. In addition, Japan, China, the United States, and Germany had the largest impacts on international RE trade from 2002 to 2014. Last, some policy suggestions were highlighted according to the results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xibo Wang
- The State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Jianping Ge
- School of Humanities and Economic Management, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China
- Key Laboratory of Carrying Capacity Assessment for Resource and Environment, Ministry of Land and Resources, Beijing, 100083, China
- * E-mail:
| | - Wendong Wei
- College of Government, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Hanshi Li
- School of Economics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Chen Wu
- Structural Geology Group, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China
| | - Ge Zhu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China
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Sprecher B, Daigo I, Murakami S, Kleijn R, Vos M, Kramer GJ. Framework for resilience in material supply chains, with a case study from the 2010 Rare Earth Crisis. Environ Sci Technol 2015; 49:6740-50. [PMID: 25965803 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b00206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
In 2010, Chinese export restrictions caused the price of the rare earth element neodymium to increase by a factor of 10, only to return to almost normal levels in the following months. This despite the fact that the restrictions were not lifted. The significant price peak shows that this material supply chain was only weakly resistant to a major supply disruption. However, the fact that prices rapidly returned to lower levels implies a certain resilience. With the help of a novel approach, based on resilience theory combined with a material flow analysis (MFA) based representation of the neodymium magnet (NdFeB) supply chain, we show that supply chain resilience is composed of various mechanisms, including (a) resistance, (b) rapidity, and (c) flexibility, that originate from different parts of the supply chain. We make recommendations to improve the capacity of the NdFeB system to deal with future disruptions and discuss potential generalities for the resilience of other material supply chains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Sprecher
- †Materials Innovation Institute (M2i), Delft 2600 GA, The Netherlands
- ‡Institute for Environmental Sciences (CML,) Leiden University, Leiden 2311 EZ, The Netherlands
| | - Ichiro Daigo
- §Department of Materials Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
| | - Shinsuke Murakami
- ⊥Department of Systems Innovation, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
| | - Rene Kleijn
- ‡Institute for Environmental Sciences (CML,) Leiden University, Leiden 2311 EZ, The Netherlands
| | - Matthijs Vos
- ∥Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum 44801, Germany
| | - Gert Jan Kramer
- ‡Institute for Environmental Sciences (CML,) Leiden University, Leiden 2311 EZ, The Netherlands
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Tukker A. Rare earth elements supply restrictions: market failures, not scarcity, hamper their current use in high-tech applications. Environ Sci Technol 2014; 48:9973-9974. [PMID: 25118571 DOI: 10.1021/es503548f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Arnold Tukker
- Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) , Leiden University, Leiden 2311 EZ, Netherlands , TNO, Delft 2600 AA, Netherlands
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Abstract
Chinese rare earth export policies currently result in accelerating its depletion. Thus adopting an optimal export trade selection strategy is crucial to determining and ultimately identifying the ideal trading partners. This paper introduces a multi-attribute decision-making methodology which is then used to select the optimal trading partner. In the method, an evaluation criteria system is established to assess the seven top trading partners based on three dimensions: political relationships, economic benefits and industrial security. Specifically, a simple additive weighing model derived from an additive utility function is utilized to calculate, rank and select alternatives. Results show that Japan would be the optimal trading partner for Chinese rare earths. The criteria evaluation method of trading partners for China's rare earth exports provides the Chinese government with a tool to enhance rare earth industrial policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunyan He
- School of Humanities and Economic Management, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Carrying Capacity Assessment for Resource and Environment, Ministry of Land & Resources, Beijing, China
| | - Yalin Lei
- School of Humanities and Economic Management, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Carrying Capacity Assessment for Resource and Environment, Ministry of Land & Resources, Beijing, China
- * E-mail:
| | - Jianping Ge
- School of Humanities and Economic Management, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Carrying Capacity Assessment for Resource and Environment, Ministry of Land & Resources, Beijing, China
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Abstract
Rare earth elements (REEs) are important for green and a large variety of high-tech technologies and are, therefore, in high demand. As a result, supply with REEs is likely to be disrupted (the degree of depends on the REE) in the near future. The 17 REEs are divided into heavy and light REEs. Other critical elements besides REEs, identified by the European Commission, are also becoming less easily available. Although there is no deficiency in the earth's crust of rare earth oxides, the economic accessibility is limited. The increased demand for REEs, the decreasing export from China, and geopolitical concerns on availability contributed to the (re)opening of mines in Australia and the USA and other mines are slow to follow. As a result, short supply of particularly terbium, dysprosium, praseodymium, and neodymium is expected to be problematic for at least the short term, also because they cannot be substituted. Recycling REEs from electronic waste would be a solution, but so far there are hardly any established REE recycling methods. Decreasing the dependency on REEs, for example, by identifying possible replacements or increasing their efficient use, represents another possibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- M A de Boer
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1083, 1081 HV Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
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