Renewable Energy Expansion and Critical Mineral Governance 2020–2024
As China accelerated its renewable-energy transition, the environmental challenge began to shift again. Expanding wind power, electric vehicles, power grids, and other low-carbon technologies reduced dependence on fossil fuels, but these technologies also required large quantities of minerals and processed materials.
Rare earths became especially important because they are used in permanent magnets for electric motors, wind turbines, electronics, and other high-tech applications. This meant that the transition toward cleaner energy did not eliminate resource extraction. Instead, it increased the strategic importance of a different group of resources.
By the early 2020s, rare-earth governance therefore combined several goals at once: supporting clean-energy and high-tech industries, limiting illegal and excessive extraction, improving environmental performance, and protecting national resource and industrial security. The policy focus increasingly extended across the entire supply chain, from mining and smelting to recycling, product circulation, and exports.
Policy Response
2005 — Renewable Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China
“中华人民共和国可再生能源法”
The law made renewable energy a priority area of national energy development and established a legal framework for expanding wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, geothermal, and other non-fossil energy sources. It linked renewable-energy development with energy security, environmental protection, and sustainable development.
Official English source:
https://english.mee.gov.cn/Resources/laws/envir_elatedlaws/201705/t20170513_414037.shtml
2009 — Amendment to the Renewable Energy Law
“全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于修改《中华人民共和国可再生能源法》的决定”
The 2009 amendment strengthened renewable-energy planning and grid obligations, helping support the rapid expansion of renewable electricity during the following decade.
Official English consolidated text:
2024 — Regulations on Rare Earth Administration
“稀土管理条例”
The State Council introduced China’s first comprehensive administrative regulation specifically for rare earths. The regulations cover mining, smelting and separation, comprehensive utilisation, product circulation, imports, and exports.
They state that rare-earth resources are owned by the state and subject to protective exploitation, while policy must balance resource protection with development and utilisation. The regulations also explicitly connect rare-earth governance with ecological security, national resource security, industrial security, technological innovation, and green development. They took effect on October 1, 2024.
Official English source:
https://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202406/29/content_WS66800cfcc6d0868f4e8e8b15.html
Official Chinese source:
https://www.mee.gov.cn/zcwj/gwywj/202407/t20240701_1080564.shtml
Strengthened Rare Earth Regulation
2024
In 2024, China introduced the Regulations on Rare Earth Administration, the country’s first comprehensive administrative regulation dedicated specifically to rare earth resources.
The regulation tightened state control across the entire rare-earth supply chain. It covered mining, smelting and separation, recycling, product circulation, imports, and exports, while reaffirming that rare-earth resources are owned by the state and subject to protective exploitation.
The new rules also strengthened total-quantity controls on mining and smelting, introduced traceability requirements, and placed greater emphasis on environmental protection, resource conservation, and the recycling of rare-earth waste. At the same time, the regulation explicitly linked rare-earth management to national resource security, industrial security, and ecological security.
The policy reflected a broader shift in the role of rare earths. They were no longer treated only as mining commodities, but as strategic materials essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics, and other technologies central to the energy transition.
Selected Sources
“China Issues Regulations on Rare Earth Administration”
State Council of the People’s Republic of China, June 29, 2024
https://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202406/29/content_WS66800cfcc6d0868f4e8e8b15.html
Mining Quotas and Production Controls
2024
China has long used production quotas to control how much rare earth material can be mined and processed each year. In 2024, this system became more concentrated and more tightly linked to a small number of state-controlled producers.
For the first batch of 2024, the government set national quotas of 135,000 tonnes for rare-earth mining and 127,000 tonnes for smelting and separation. The quotas were allocated only to China Rare Earth Group and China Northern Rare Earth Group, reinforcing the consolidation of production into a smaller number of major companies.
A second batch later added another 135,000 tonnes of mining quotas and 127,000 tonnes of smelting and separation quotas. The quota system was designed to balance several competing goals, including resource conservation, ecological protection, industrial demand, and national resource security.
The 2024 Rare Earth Administration Regulations further formalised this approach by requiring rare-earth mining and smelting enterprises to comply with national total-production controls and by limiting authorised mining and processing to designated companies.
Selected Sources
“两部委关于下达2024年第一批稀土开采、冶炼分离总量控制指标的通知” — “China Issues the First Batch of 2024 Rare Earth Mining and Smelting Quotas”
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology / Ministry of Natural Resources, February 2024
https://gxj.yq.gov.cn/gztzgg/202402/t20240220_1827497.html
“How China Tightened Its Grip Over Its Rare Earth Sector”
Reuters, July 7, 2025