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.

Several of the largest energy companies in Europe announced that they would support greater greenhouse gas emission cuts on Friday. The firms included Britain's Scottish & Southern Energy, Denmark's Dong Energy, and Dutch firm Eneco, and they issued a statement in advance of EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard's strategy paper expected on Tuesday. The current carbon dioxide target is 20 percent below 1990 levels, but the firms suggested the EU should enact a 25 percent cut target.

The EU Commission will re-open carbon offset spot trading step-by-step as each registry proves its security, EU officials said, after a possibly concerted theft of carbon permits worth up to 30 million euros led to a week-long freeze last Wednesday. The theft, focusing on markets in the Czech Republic and Austria, led to an investigation that declared 14 of the EU's 27 registries "not up to scratch," according to the European Commission's climate action spokeswoman Maria Kokkonen.