Mês: maio 2026

The book examines the global rush for critical minerals and rare earths, highlighting the growing efforts of developed countries to secure privileged access to these resources, often at the expense of commitments to climate action and sustainable development. In response to China’s dominance in global supply chains for green and digital technologies, advanced economies have increasingly adopted trade barriers justified by national security concerns, contributing to the dismantling of the neoliberal international economic order once promoted by the Global North. As a result, strategies such as re-shoring, on-shoring, near-shoring, and friend-shoring have become common substitutes for off-shoring. The 2008 financial crisis, the COVID‑19 pandemic, the increase in trade tariffs, and the chip wars, particularly the contemporary competition between the Global North and emerging economies such as China, India, and Brazil, are reshaping the international economic landscape, giving rise to a phenomenon known as geoeconomic fragmentation, in which domestic policies interfere with international economic relations. The book analyses the relationship between essential minerals and rare earths, developing a more comprehensive concept: “Climate Commodities.” This notion encompasses three dimensions: climate, economic, and strategic-‑military (or geoeconomic). This research offers an emerging perspective from the Global South, contributing to a critical study of contemporary international economic law by recognizing that certain policies labeled as climate-‑oriented by advanced economies reflect domestic interests in trade protectionism and privileged access to minerals.