The European Commission is developing a strategy to simultaneously recycle and assist countries in Africa in sustainably mining rare earth materials, partially in response to a reduction in export quotas by China, provider of 97% of the world's supply. China issued an outright ban on rare earth exports to Japan in a dispute over fishing rights last year, and a few weeks ago Caijing magazine reported that China would begin stockpiling materials.

In the aftermath of Japan's nuclear crisis, Angela Merkel has begun a shift to move Germany away from nuclear power in efforts that will make the country much more reliant on Russian gas. Germany currently imports about 85 percent of its natural gas and is more reliant on Russia for its energy needs than the European Union as a whole. "So far the public debate in Germany has focused on the desire to exit nuclear energy with little thought being spared as to what is actually going to replace it," said Merkel.