The Geopolitics of Rare Earth Elements and Critical Minerals
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

Critical Minerals (CM) are minerals of particular importance to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and electrification. Rare Earth Elements (REE) are a set of elements that have unusual properties, particularly with respect to magnetism, that make them exceedingly important to modern technologies. China has devoted vast resources to dominating global mining, smelting, refining, and supplying of REE and CM. The United States has launched several highly publicized foreign policy initiatives over the last few years to acquire control over REE and CM in Greenland and Ukraine. This class will examine how countries around the world are competing to secure access to these elements and minerals and the consequences of those actions in terms of supply, pollution, and both market and military power. Finally, we will look at the race among nations to mine deep sea basins for polymetallic nodules and the impact of the current war on usage rates of REE and foreign policy.