By Julia Payne
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission published a list of 47 strategic projects on Tuesday to boost the EU’s production of 14 of the 17 materials it deems critical for its energy transition and security.
The list is part of the implementation of the Critical Raw Material Act agreed in 2023 in which the bloc aims to mine 10%, process 40% and recycle 25% of its needs by 2030.
“For a long time, raw materials were the blind spot in our industrial policy…Europe has often preferred to buy most of the raw materials it needs almost exclusively outside its borders,” EU industry commissioner Stephane Sejourne told reporters.
“Until the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine reminded us of the dangers of our addictions.”
The materials include base metals aluminium, copper and nickel, along with key battery material lithium and rare earth elements used in permanent magnets for wind turbines or in electric vehicles.
The 47 projects are located in 13 European Union member states: Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Czechia, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Poland and Romania, the Commission said.
Twenty five involve extraction, 24 processing and 10 recycling, with some a combination of these features.
More lists will be announced to cover the remaining materials, including projects outside the bloc.
The EU is keen to avoid any over-dependence on one source for key metals after the shock of losing cheap Russian gas and supply chain issues during the COVID pandemic. Joint purchasing has also become a new tool the Commission is pushing.
China dominates rare earths extraction, the processing of metals for electric vehicle batteries and solar panels among other key areas.
“There can be no defence industry without rare earths, which are used in our radars, sonars and targeting systems – and for which, I would remind you, we are 100% dependent on refined Chinese materials,” Sejourne said.
Twenty two of the projects involve lithium, 12 nickel, 11 graphite, 10 cobalt, and seven manganese to help the battery-making supply chain, with some involving more than one metal.
A magnesium project, along with three tungsten ones, will be geared for the EU’s defence industry.
The projects will benefit from streamlined permitting limited to a process maximum of 27 months for mining and 15 months for processing or recycling. Permitting has been a hold-up for many green projects across the bloc, adding years to developments, as companies contend with 27 member states’ rules as well as those of the local communities.
A financing group will also advise how to jump-start the costly projects with public guarantees from national banks, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development to encourage private investment.
(Reporting by Julia PayneEditing by Mark Potter, Kirsten Donovan)
