EU Must Secure Supply Chain for Critical Minerals
On 28 September 2023 at the International Energy Agency (IEA) Summit in Paris, #EU Commissioner Thierry Breton raised the issue about EU losing the battle for Electric Vehicles (#EV) and Semiconductors if the supply chain for #CriticalMinerals is not secured.
At the moment, the EU relies on China for 80% of its #Lithium and 100% of Rare Earth Minerals (REM). Recently, China also restricted exports of Gallium and Germanium that goes into the manufacture of semiconductors. Therefore, the EU must guard itself against the weaponization of #CriticalMinerals in order to achieve a successful #EnergyTransition.
“We are now clear that in the EU, we cannot replace a fossil fuel dependency with a raw material one.”
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton
The warning came as Australia Minister of Natural Resources Madeleine King was touring the EU. On Thursday 27 September 2023, she signed an agreement for the supply of #CriticalMinerals with French Minister for Energy Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher.
Western countries such as the EU, USA and Australia are scouring the globe to find reliable sources of #CriticalMinerals. Several mining projects in Africa, Latin America and Australia are thus in the pipeline.
According to the plan, 10% of #CriticalMinerals should be produced locally in the EU, 15% should come from recycling and 40% should undergo Local Value Addition (#LVA) on European soil.
The IEA Summit delegates reached a consensus on Six Key Actions：
- Accelerate diversification of #CriticalMinerals sources
- Unlock power of recycling through adoption of new technologies
- Promote transparency in markets
- Ensure availability of reliable information
- Creat incentives for sustainable and responsible practices
- Foster international collaboration
As an additional measure, the EU’s #GlobalGateway will be tweaked in order to incentivize projects supporting the securing of access to #CriticalMinerals.