The EU tries to reduce foreign dependence on critical raw materials

EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and EU Commissioner Thierry Breton announced the proposal for a new Critical Raw Materials Law at a press conference in Brussels.

Emphasizing that green and digital transformation are of great importance for Europe, Dombrovskis said: “We want to be the leader in the green industry of the future. For that to happen, we need critical raw materials.” saying.

Emphasizing that Europe’s need for critical raw materials is very clear, Dombrovskis stated that the global demand for critical raw materials will increase several times over the next 10 years.

Stating that demand for rare earth elements will increase 6-fold by 2030 for the EU’s target wind turbine production level, demand for lithium required for electric car batteries will increase 12-fold, Dombrovskis said: “We are not a continent with rich resources. Only some of the critical raw materials we need can be sourced locally.” he said.

“This is not a stable or reliable way to build the industry of the future,” Dombrovskis said. saying.

“OUR SUPPLY OF CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS URGENTLY NEEDS TO DIVERSIFY”

Emphasizing that they urgently need to diversify their supply of critical raw materials, Dombrovskis said: “Our goal is to reach at least 10 percent of domestic demand for mining and extraction, at least 40 percent for processing and refining, and at least 15 percent for recycling by 2030. to achieve it.” he found the evaluation of it.

Dombrovskis noted that 10 percent of domestic capacity means “still 90 percent comes from outside the EU,” adding: “We don’t have the resources to meet our needs.” saying.

Emphasizing that the EU must clearly establish relations of trust and mutual benefit for the supply of raw materials, Dombrovskis said that many resource-rich countries are looking for partners to develop these critical materials and the EU will turn to these countries.

Dombrovskis also stated that they propose to establish a Critical Raw Materials Club to strengthen the global supply chain, where they will bring together countries with rich resources and countries with large consumption.

LAW OF CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS

With the law, raw materials were classified in 2 different ways as “critical” and “strategic”.

While the list of strategic raw materials includes Europe’s green and digital targets, mines in technologies that are important to the defense and space sectors, 16 commodities including boron, cobalt, copper, gallium, lithium, magnesium, titanium and nickel are included in this list.

It was noted that products on the list of strategic raw materials may be exposed to possible competition risks in the future.

In addition, 34 commodities, including boron, copper, bismuth, coal, copper, and nickel, were placed on the list of critical raw materials.

The law establishes clear criteria to develop local capacity in the supply chain of strategic raw materials and diversify the EU’s supply by 2030. Thus, the EU will extract at least 10 percent of the annual consumption in critical raw materials, process at least 40 percent and will recycle at least 15 percent.

In addition, the EU will not obtain more than 65 per cent of the consumption of any strategic raw material from a single third country.

Within this framework, the EU will try to diversify the offer of foreign countries with a very high dependence on other countries. (AA)