Rare Earths: An Anti-Protectionism Appeal from Scientists

Lithium , essential for electric batteries, and then cobalt , nickel , rare earths and copper : these are the main ones among the so-called critical raw materials that are increasingly important for energy and around which there is growing competition . Before this race generates new conflicts, an international group of scientists from the journal Science calls for ensuring fair access thanks to a trust fund that they propose to discuss at the next meeting of the G7 countries , scheduled for 15 to 17 June in Canada, in Kananaskis. It is a problem that affects the whole world and on which the Accademia dei Lincei has also expressed its opinion with regard to Italy, where it would be appropriate to have "a systemic approach capable of accelerating the exploration and sustainable extraction of national resources, strengthening leadership and enhancing the national circular supply chain". At the international level, the appeal published in Science states that "as president of the G7, Canada can lead a multilateral initiative to govern strategic minerals, essential for artificial intelligence and clean energy, before competition turns into conflict ." The signatories are scientists from 12 institutions, including the United Nations University, the American Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the Chinese Tsinghua University and the African School of Economics. " Without a shared framework , we risk worsening global inequalities , triggering unnecessary conflicts over resources and undermining our ability to meet climate goals ," observes the first signatory of the appeal Saleem H. Ali, who teaches at the United Nations University, the University of Queensland and the University of Delaware. Since many important deposits of these minerals are located in economically disadvantaged countries, balancing the priorities of producer countries and those of consumers of these materials has become a global political dilemma, the signatories of the appeal note. One of the main challenges, they note, is ensuring reliable supply and access , and above all, they call for "a paradigm shift in how the world manages the materials that fuel the green transition, treating minerals not as raw materials to be competed for, but as shared planetary resources to be responsibly managed". ' Global Minerals Trust ' is the name of the trust fund proposed by the researchers, which aims to lay the foundations for a fair trading platform, which could be managed by producer and consumer countries as trustees. It would have independent verification mechanisms , similar to those used by the International Atomic Energy Agency. For Kaveh Madani, director of the United Nations University, "critical minerals are the backbone of the Fourth Industrial Revolution , but they are currently governed by systems that reward exploitation and exclusion rather than cooperation and sustainability". The challenge , he concludes, is not to make green transition minerals "the new oil : hoarded, weaponised or contested".