Practical information
As part of the Ifri Energy Breakfast Roundtable, a seminar with James B. Hedrick, President, Hedrick Consultant Inc, and Christian Hocquard, Expert and Economist, BRGM). Chaired by William C. Ramsay, Senior Fellow and Director of the Ifri Energy Program and Jacques Lesourne, President of the Scientific Committee of the Ifri Energy Program.
Den Xiaoping may have been right back in 1992 when he declared that while “Middle East has oil, China has rare earth”. Since 2000 the price of Rare Earth Elements, a group of 17 minerals, increased five-fold. The world markets until then very much focused on energy or water security of supply began to acknowledge the implications of the concentration of 95% rare earth production in China. In 2008, rare earths were labelled ‘highly critical" raw materials by an US National Research Council Report. China is aware of its clear market dominance as seen in its recent claim to reduce export quotas reduction and create a 200 000t strategic reserve.
Rare Earth Elements are needed in particular for high technologies products such as wind turbines, electronic consumer goods, nanotechnologies, clean vehicles batteries, motors and various military applications. A potential supply disruption could hamper the development of a green market economy as well as the refashioned industrial strategies in Europe designed to drag Europe out of the economic doldrums and ensure its future competitiveness.
Ahead of the European Commission review of its raw material initiative, this conference aims to assess the current situation regarding supplies, market developments, environment and challenges that lie ahead.
Other events
A New Moment for Central Europe? Regional Cooperation in a Time of European Strategic Choices
Recent political developments in Central Europe have revived the debate about the future of regional cooperation and the Visegrád Group. Changes in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, together with Austria’s growing interest in closer cooperation with its neighbours, could create new opportunities for dialogue and coordination around shared priorities.
China’s Nuclear Buildup: Developments, Drivers, and Implications for Major-Power Relations and Arms Control
China has been steadily expanding its nuclear arsenal for several years amid levels of geopolitical tension unseen since the end of the Cold War, marked by a resurgence in nuclear proliferation and a broader, global arms race.
Reinventing Coordination in an Age of Fragmentation
The world economy is being reordered. The certainties of the post-Cold War era, open trade, dollar centrality, predictable multilateral coordination, are giving way to a landscape shaped by rivalry between the United States and China, the weaponization of interdependence, and a scramble to secure supply chains, technologies and critical resources. What once looked like a stable architecture now appears fragile, contested, and in places actively being dismantled.