According to European Commission, we are facing unprecedented growing for Critical Raw Materials demand, essential for the ‘twin transition’, the green and digital transition. For instance, batteries for electric vehicles are expected to increase the demand for lithium 11-fold by 2030 and 17-fold by 2050.
But in this sector Europe is almost entirely dependent on China, which has a near-monopoly in both mining and processing of several strategic materials involved, and on politically unstable countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s largest cobalt producer.
The EU Parliament approved in September the Critical Raw Materials Act, a regulation on critical raw materials presented by the European Commission in March. This new legislation aims to chart a course to strategic independence for the Union through measures which ensure ‘secure, diversified and sustainable’ supplies.
2030 Goals
According to the latest data, there are a total of 34 critical raw materials, i.e. those metals and minerals necessary for crucial sectors such as digital, aerospace and defence industry, 16 of which are strategic.
Critical Raw Materials Act aims to reduce the UE dependence and diversify supplies providing guidelines for improving the extraction, processing and recycling capacities of critical raw materials in all EU countries.
The regulation’s targets, to be reached by 2030, aim to achieve at least 10% of extractions from European mines for critical raw materials consumed in the EU, currently at 3%; at least 40% of the critical raw materials must be processed in Europe and a minimum of 15% must come from recovery and recycling activities.
In addition, the 16 strategic materials, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earths, titanium and copper, are liable to a specific 2030 target: no more than 65% of the annual consumption of each can be met by a single third country supplier.
Regulatory intervention
The interventions were nail down starting from the 2023 Criticality Assessment and the Strategic Technology Foresight Report, also taking in account the work of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). The organization updated its raw materials information system, a tool that manages information on specific materials and countries, as well as on different sectors and technologies and analyses of current and future supply and demand.
The planned actions are aimed at increasing in-house capacities, diversification and risk management: regulatory simplification and acceleration for mining projects with a maximum of 24 months for extraction permits and 12 months for processing and recycling; light procedures supported by easier access to funding lines; increased cooperation between Member States to get a more accurate picture of national reserves; foundation of the Raw Materials Academy with the aim of developing new skills needed by workers; finally, diversification of trade partners and the set up of a Critical Raw Materials Club: a solution to reinforce relations with resource-rich countries by offering investment and technology.
The role of secondary raw materials
An important element of the Critical Raw Materials Act indications is referred to increasing recycling rates and the use of secondary raw materials, derived from waste recycling processes.
Member States will need to adopt and implement national measures to improve the collection of critical raw materials rich waste and ensure its recycling into secondary critical raw materials. Furthermore, together with private operators, European States will have to examine the potential for recovering critical raw materials from mining waste.
These activities will carry out both in existing mining operations and at historical mining waste sites, moreover products containing permanent magnets will have to meet circularity requirements and display information about recyclability and recycled content.
A constantly evolving legislation
The Critical Raw Materials Act is an evolving piece of legislation just because it focuses on monitoring, circularity and sustainability. So it’s necessary to review the strategic raw materials list at least every four years.
In order to overcome the challenges ahead, an important role for retraining European workers is played by the Horizon Europe work program, whit EUR 500 million budget already allocated for research and innovation projects focus on critical raw materials.
Recent events, such as the s Recent events, such as the supply disruptions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the chip shortage and the energy crisis due to Ukraine-Russia conflict, have highlighted the risks of an over-dependence on foreign strategic supply and emphasize the requirement for decisive actions to safeguard Europe’s economic and social well-being and security.
This is why European countries, including Germany, France and Italy, are considering to establish national funds to support supply chains of critical raw materials and to enable the financing of new extraction, refining and recycling projects.
The strength of the critical raw materials Regulation is built on the opportunities provided by the Single Market, together with diversified external partnerships which, in turn, can ensure and strengthen the resilience of supply chains improving circularity and sustainability and mitigating the risks.