Rare earth metals, which are used by many green technologies, seem to be having some of the same problems historically associated with diamonds and other precious stones: they come almost entirely “from some of the most environmentally damaging mines in the country, in an industry dominated by criminal gangs.”

As in the case with diamonds much of the problem seems informational. If customers were aware of whether or not the product they were buying was manufactured “responsibly”, then they would be willing to pay a premium for it. Since these metals are used frequently for green technologies, the kinds of consumers who are the end-buyers of rare earth metals are probably the kind who will place a high value on minimizing the environmental and social costs. If buyers of green technologies are mostly concerned about signaling their social responsibility, than information on where the rare earth metals come from could go a long way in fixing this problem. Things aren’t looking so great here though:

“Western users of heavy rare earths say that they have no way of figuring out what proportion of the minerals they buy from China comes from responsibly operated mines.”

I would guess most consumers are pretty unaware of these problems associated with rare earth metals, and thus green technologies. More awareness of will hopefully lead companies to find innovative ways to credibly signal the social responsibility of their mines, since doing so will become more profitable. I’m optimistic about this one.