The energy transition is no longer a future vision but a widely accepted necessity. Electric vehicles, wind power, solar panels – the instruments of transformation are already in place. Yet even as the direction is clear, the path forward remains complex. In his book The Rare Metals War, Guillaume Pitron offers a sober and precise look at an uncomfortable reality: the green revolution comes at a cost – and not merely a financial one.
No Transition Without Rare Metals
Wind turbines, solar panels, batteries – all depend on rare, costly, and hard-to-mine metals: neodymium, dysprosium, cobalt, lithium. These materials make motors lighter, magnets stronger, and batteries more efficient. In short, decarbonization through technology would be unthinkable without them.
But the mining and processing of these metals is energy-intensive, environmentally damaging, and geopolitically fraught. This is Pitron’s key point: we must reckon with the ecological and political foundations of our supposedly clean technologies.
For more on Pitron’s work and broader context, visit his official website – it’s worth the scroll if you’re interested in where your phone battery’s conscience ends up buried.
Global Supply Chains – and Their Strategic Implications
Over 80% of the world’s rare earth processing takes place in China. Not because other countries lack the resources, but because many – especially in Europe – chose to withdraw from the business. The environmental costs were considered politically and socially unacceptable.
China capitalized on this vacuum, building a dominant position not just in extraction but in refining and supply chains. Today, that dominance grants Beijing a quiet yet potent geopolitical lever. Those who control technological dependencies also exert influence – over markets, yes, but also over political maneuverability.
The Cost of Outsourcing
Pitron’s argument is strategic rather than moral: as long as we outsource the polluting processes, we may preserve our image – but we lose control. A resilient and genuinely sustainable green transition requires that we re-engage with parts of the industrial chain we had long preferred to forget – under modern environmental and social standards.
For a more technocratic (and worryingly dry) breakdown, the IEA’s report on critical minerals lays it all out: the who, what, where and how risky it all gets.
This is not regression, but a return: to responsibility, to industrial policy, and, yes – to the ground. Because only by digging ourselves can we honestly speak of clean technologies.
Conclusion
The Rare Metals War is not a scandal-driven book, but a clarifying one. If we want green technology, we need rare metals. If we want those, we must actively shape their sourcing and production – ecologically and politically. Retreating into moral cleanliness serves neither the planet nor geopolitical resilience.
In short: the green revolution remains an industrial one – with everything that entails.
– Christopher Angel