The European Commission has come up with a new legislative proposal, the European Critical Raw Material Act, to help boost supplies of minerals such as lithium and rare earths. The proposal was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as part of the annual State of the Union address.

“Lithium and rare earths will soon be more important than oil and gas. Our demand for rare earths alone will increase fivefold by 2030. […] We must avoid becoming dependent again, as we did with oil and gas. […] We will identify strategic projects all along the supply chain, from extraction to refining, from processing to recycling. And we will build up strategic reserves where supply is at risk. This is why today I am announcing a European Critical Raw Materials Act.”

European Commission President von der Leyen recalled some hard facts: “without secure and sustainable access to the necessary raw materials, our ambition to become the first climate-neutral continent is at risk.“

She stated: “The not-so-good news is – one country dominates the market. So we have to avoid falling into the same dependency as with oil and gas.”

In response to Leyen’s announcement, industry association European Aluminium director general Paul Voss said: “The Critical Raw Materials Act is a step in the right direction to support sustainable growth and strategic autonomy in raw materials.

“However, European raw materials that aren’t deemed ‘scarce’ or ‘rare’ shouldn’t be left behind. Policymakers should introduce measures for all raw materials industries to help increase their supply security, obtain greater investments and scale up recycling capacity to recover valuable secondary raw materials.”

Background

On September 3, 2020, the European Commission presented an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, the 2020 List of Critical Raw Materials, and a foresight study on critical raw materials for strategic technologies and sectors from the 2030 and 2050 perspectives. The Action Plan looks at the current and future challenges and proposes actions to reduce Europe’s dependency on third countries, diversifying supply from both primary and secondary sources and improving resource efficiency and circularity while promoting responsible sourcing worldwide. The actions will foster our transition towards a green and digital economy, and at the same time, bolster Europe’s resilience and open strategic autonomy in key technologies needed for such transition. The List of Critical Raw Materials has been updated to reflect the changed economic importance and supply challenges based on their industrial application. It contains 30 critical raw materials. Lithium, which is essential for a shift to e-mobility, has been added to the list for the first time.

The 2020 EU list contains 30 materials as compared to 14 materials in 2011, 20 materials in 2014, and 27 materials in 2017. 26 materials stay on the list. Bauxite, lithium, titanium, and strontium are added to the list for the first time. Helium remains a concern as far as supply concentration is concerned, but is removed from the 2020 critical list due to a decline in its economic importance.

2020 List of Critical Raw Materials

Antimony – Hafnium – Phosphorus – Baryte – Heavy Rare Earth Elements – Scandium – Beryllium – Light Rare Earth Elements – Silicon metal – Bismuth – Indium – Tantalum – Borate – Magnesium – Tungsten -Cobalt – Natural Graphite – Vanadium – Coking Coal – Natural Rubber – Bauxite – Fluorspar – Niobium – Lithium – Gallium – Platinum Group Metals – Titanium – Germanium – Phosphate rock – Strontium.