Oil companies spent more than a century developing a vast industrial network to extract, refine and deliver their product to customers around the world. Sourcing the materials needed to build an alternative, less carbon-intensive economy presents a whole new set of challenges. China has been tackling these successfully for more than a decade, making it the undisputed leader in the “critical minerals” used in equipment such as electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and wind-turbine magnets. If other nations are going to have a chance of challenging its dominance in these clean technologies, they need to catch up ... (full story)