Critical raw materials

Over the past centuries, humanity has used an increasing share of the known elements to foster technological innovation, in particular metals. Today, a wide range of key technologies across all industries, from chips to batteries, medical imaging to tanks, rely on the unique physical properties of some specific critical raw materials (CRMs). Demand for CRMs is projected to skyrocket in the coming years.
The EU's ambition to become a climate-neutral economy by 2050, and its ability to sustain the green and digital transitions and achieve strategic autonomy, all rely heavily on reliable, secure and resilient access to CRMs. CRM supply chains are global, complex, and fragile, which makes them vulnerable to a wide range of risks, including those linked to geopolitical tensions.
The supply of CRMs is often more concentrated than that of fossil fuels. Furthermore, the EU's reliance on imports of CRMs is extremely high, sometimes reaching 100 % (e.g. for rare earth elements - REEs).
Possible measures that could help the EU tackle these challenges include diversifying CRM primary sourcing; promoting a fully circular approach to CRM use; and implementing contingency planning, mitigating and emergency measures, including stockpiling. The European Parliament has promoted an integrated approach throughout the CRM value chain under a European strategy for CRMs, to increase the EU's supply. It has recently emphasised that a new European Sovereignty Fund should increase European investment in the raw materials sector.
Dig deeper into Securing Europe's supply of critical raw materials:
epthinktank.eu/2023/03/09/sec...
Future Shocks 2023: De-risking Europe’s global critical supply chains
epthinktank.eu/2023/08/18/fut...
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