Critical raw materials threaten to stop the energy revolution – that’s how serious the situation is

The EU is unable to secure access to critical raw materials. This is what the European Court of Auditors estimates in its recent report.

The EU’s goal is that by 2030, 42.5 percent of energy will be produced with renewable energy sources.

The EU has listed 34 critical materials, 17 of which are classified as strategic.

Renewable energy technologies, such as wind power, solar panels and batteries, require 26 critical raw materials, for many of which the EU’s self-sufficiency is weak.

According to the report of the Court of Auditors, the EU’s actions to diversify imports, increase own production and develop recycling have fallen far behind the goals.

Addiction grows

The EU’s energy transition is heavily dependent on technologies such as batteries, wind turbines and solar panels, which in turn require lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth metals. The production of these materials is largely concentrated in China, Turkey, Chile and other countries outside the EU.

According to the Court of Auditors, attempts to reduce dependence on individual supplier countries have not yielded results: ten critical raw materials are still completely dependent on imports, and for several more than 65 percent of imports come from a single country.

“We are dangerously dependent on a few countries outside the EU. The EU must reduce its vulnerability considerably,” says the member of the court responsible for the inspection Keit Pentus‑Rosimannus.

No results

In recent years, the EU has entered into 14 strategic partnerships to ensure the supply of raw materials, but no concrete benefits have arisen. In many partner countries, the administration is vulnerable, and the countries’ share of EU imports has decreased.

In addition, several processes initiated by the EU have been interrupted or at a standstill, such as the negotiations with the United States and the Mercosur trade agreement.

The Mercosur countries, i.e. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, would have plenty of critical mineral resources, but the trade agreement has not been put into effect.

The Court of Auditors estimates that many strategic projects, such as the battery and hydrogen economy, may face significant security of supply problems by 2030, unless the availability of raw materials can be improved.

Recycling is falling

According to the EU regulation, at least 25% of strategic raw materials should come from recycling by 2030. According to the report, the goal seems distant for the time being, because seven of the 26 key raw materials have a recycling rate of only 1-5 percent and ten raw materials are not recycled at all.

The auditors point out that the EU’s recycling targets do not target individual materials, which does not encourage the recycling of hard-to-recover raw materials, such as rare earth metals or palladium in electronics.

The competitiveness of recyclers is also weakened by high processing costs, small raw material flows and regulatory barriers.

Production late

The EU is aiming for 10 percent self-sufficiency in the extraction of strategic raw materials by 2030, but the goal seems unlikely. According to the report, the mapping of deposits is incomplete, and opening a new mine can still take up to 20 years.

At the same time, the EU’s refining capacity is declining due to high energy costs and lack of investment, which erodes strategic competitiveness.

According to the auditors, the EU is in danger of drifting into a self-reinforcing cycle of problems, where the scarcity of raw materials slows down processing investments, which further weakens supply security.