Critical raw materials: hope for domesti • Table.Briefings

Digitization and the energy transition are leading to a steadily increasing demand for critical raw materials. But the EU is already heavily dependent on imports from individual regions. This is set to change. Today, the Parliament is voting on its position on the raw materials strategy, which focuses in particular on the extraction of Europe’s own deposits.

Raw materials are at the beginning of every value chain and are of crucial importance for Europe as an industrial location. Europe is not a resource-poor region. Nevertheless, the list of so-called critical raw materials, i.e., all those whose supply risk is particularly high according to the EU Commission, grows from year to year. While the Brussels authority listed 14 minerals in 2011, the number has now risen to 30, and the trend is rising, which is why there are already warnings of growing dependencies.

Critical raw materials: hope for domestic production

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