The large?scale use of fossil fuels has led to excessive CO₂ emissions, resulting in a series of problems such as rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and the accumulation of diseases and pests. Using electrochemical reduction of CO₂ (CO₂RR) to convert CO₂ into valuable chemicals and fuels has become a way to realize the carbon cycle. Over the years, good progress has been made in using metals and their oxides, carbon based materials, monatomic catalysts and other electrocatalysts for CO₂RR, but rare earth metals as "industrial vitamins" have been rarely reported for CO₂RR. This paper summarizes the application of rare earth elements as carriers, main catalysts and cocatalysts in CO₂RR, and explores the catalytic performance of rare earth materials in CO₂RR, so as to promote practical research of industrial application.