The European Commission on Tuesday said it has adopted 47 strategic projects to ensure access to critical raw materials in the EU.
The European Union is seeking to boost its own supply of key minerals such as lithium, manganese and cobalt, which are important in a number of emerging industries such as the production of batteries and chips.
European countries are currently heavily dependent on other countries, including China, for critical raw materials.
The move comes one year after the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) came into force in May 2024, aiming to help the bloc compete in the global race to extract, process and recycle the vital resources.
“Today, we have identified 47 new strategic projects that, for the first time, will help us secure our own domestic supply of raw materials,” said Stéphane Séjourné, the commission’s vice president for prosperity and industrial strategy. “This is a landmark moment for European sovereignty as an industrial powerhouse.”
The projects are located across 13 EU member states, covering 14 of the 17 strategic raw materials listed in the CRMA.
Twenty-two are focused on lithium, 12 on nickel, 10 on cobalt, 11 on graphite and seven on manganese.
Three projects are located in Germany, with others concentrated in Spain, Finland and France.
According to a commission statement, “to become operational, the 47 Strategic Projects have an expected overall capital investment of €22.5 billion ($24.3 billion).”
The selected projects “will be able to benefit from coordinated support by the Commission, Member States and financial institutions to become operational, notably regarding access to finance,” the statement added.
The projects are also set to be granted permits in less than 27 months, instead of the usual five to 10 years, the commission said.
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