Claiming that the reason why they are not fully engaged in mining and processing is because of CO2 emissions and pollution, yet buying from China is hypocritical. For Europe to stop depending on China for these resources, it needs to get alternative suppliers. So the only way out is to get involved and make the process clean, if possible. New technologies that will make mining operations environmentally friendly would have to be discovered so that Europe can mine these resources domestically. China and Russia might have dominated the rare earth sector in Africa, but Europe can make it competitive by giving better deals.
While that is true, finances matter into this. I mean if finance wasn't an issue, we could have all these people just end up with building solar panels and wind turbines all over, in an instant, in 2 years, and would cover need of energy within, simply. Resources and finances matter. China has a lot, and sells cheap, so if Europe doesn't buy from them, they buy limited, and they buy expensive. That is why it's important to make that distinction and you are not going to end up finding that easily, it's going to be trouble.
We should expect this to take some time, but for that to work properly, we need to arrange it to be a lot different, and not like this. So focus on how to do better and get a lot better results for sure.