EU Critical Raw Materials: Ensuring Secure and Sustainable Supply Chains for EU’s Green Future

The European Critical Raw Materials Act aims to ensure the security and sustainability of the supply of essential raw materials through identifying strategic projects and building strategic reserves.

EU announces proposal for Critical Raw Materials Act

Quick rundown

The European Commission unveiled a comprehensive plan that aims to secure a sustainable and diversified supply of critical raw materials, which are vital for various strategic sectors such as digital, net-zero, aerospace, and defense industries.


Quasi-monopolistic third country suppliers currently dominate Europe’s imports, posing risks to supply chains and economic resilience, despite projected growth in demand. Therefore, the EU adopted a regulation and communication on critical raw materials in response.


The new set of actions leverages the Single Market and external partnerships for diversification and resilience, as well as enhance mitigate risks while promoting sustainability. These measures, along with the reform of the electricity market and the Net Zero Industry Act, support the competitiveness of European industry and help achieve the goals of the Green Deal Industrial Plan.

Setting Priorities for Action

The Critical Raw Materials Act is a significant step for the EU towards a sustainable and reliable supply of critical raw materials. It outlines clear priorities for action that will enable the EU to meet its green and digital ambitions, as well as for defense and space applications.

The act includes an updated list of critical raw materials, along with a list of strategic raw materials that are critical to Europe’s technological advancements and are at risk of future supply chain disruptions. The regulation sets benchmarks for domestic capacities along the strategic raw material supply chain, which can diversify EU supply by 2030.

Creating Secure and Resilient EU Critical Raw Materials Supply Chains

The Critical Raw Materials Act sets a goal to reduce the administrative burden and simplify permitting procedures for critical raw material projects in the EU. Additionally the act will secure the EU critical raw materials supply chains by providing support for access to finance and enact shorter permitting timeframes for selected strategic projects. Member states are required to develop national programs to explore geological resources.

Ensuring Supply Chain Resilience

To ensure supply chain resilience, the act monitors critical raw materials supply chains and coordinates strategic raw materials stocks among member states, and requires large companies to conduct an audit of their strategic raw materials supply chains, including a company-level stress test.

Investing in Research, Innovation, and Skills

The act also focuses on investments for research, innovation, and skills. As the commission strengthens the uptake and deployment of breakthrough technologies in critical raw materials, a Raw Materials Academy will promote skills relevant to the workforce in critical raw materials supply chains. The Global Gateway will assist partner countries to develop their own extraction and processing capacities, including skills development.

Protecting the Environment

Efforts to improve sustainable development of critical raw materials value chains also help promote economic development in various countries. Efforts such as human rights, conflict-resolution, and regional stability. Member states will adopt and implement national measures to improve the collection of critical raw materials rich waste and ensure its recycling into secondary critical raw materials.

Diversifying Imports of Critical Raw Materials

The EU is not self-sufficient in supplying critical raw materials and will continue to rely on imports for a majority of its consumption. Therefore, international trade is essential to support global production and diversification of supply. The EU will seek mutually beneficial partnerships with reliable partners, notably in the framework of its Global Gateway strategy.

Strengthening Global Engagement

The EU will establish a Critical Raw Materials Club for all like-minded countries willing to strengthen global supply chains, strengthen the World Trade Organization (WTO), expand its network of Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreements and Free Trade Agreements, and push harder on enforcement to combat unfair trade practices.

Developing Strategic Partnerships

As the EU works with reliable partners to promote their own economic development in a sustainable manner through value chain creation in their own countries, the EU will also promote secure, resilient, affordable, and sufficiently diverse value chains for the EU.

What’s Next?

The proposed Regulation will undergo discussions and agreements with the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union before it is adopted and put into effect.

Please note: The articles and editorial content on EnergyNowAndNext.com are intended solely for educational purposes, and should not be used as a substitute for professional legal, insurance, or financial advice.

This post aims to provide you with information that can help facilitate productive discussions. Comments made by third parties or references to them are their own views, and EnergyNowAndNext.com accepts no responsibility for them. The information provided is solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as professional advice.

From Brazil to Europe: Sigma Lithium’s Commitment to Social and Environmental Responsibility

In the interview with Joe Lowry and Co-CEO of Sigma Lithium, Ana Cabral-Gardner, covers a variety of topics, from milestones to responsible mining.

Episode 152 of the Global Lithium podcast

Quick rundown.

Sigma Lithium’s (Nasdaq:SGML) hard rock project in South America gets attention as it positions itself for lithium that is required to fuel the electric battery industry.

As Sigma Lithium begins to commission their operation in Brazil, they aim to ship their product in the first half of the year. The company’s goal is to become a 100K MT LCE producer, with the first stage of its plan to fully run its dense media separation (DMS) plant by April 2023.

Sigma Lithium Co-CEO, Ana Cabral-Gardner, highlights the unique features of spodumene and how it is used to increase performance, efficiency and sustainability in the battery industry. She also explores the challenges associated with producing spodumene in a responsible and sustainable manner, as well as the company’s commitment to responsible mining practices.

SGML goal is to facilitate the expansion of the electric vehicle industry as a leading global producer of eco-friendly lithium products.

Milestones and timelines:

  • Shipping product in the first half of the year
  • Become a 100K MT LCE producer

Challenges and issues:

  • Seven DMS’s is a complex system
  • Tailings are not permanent 
  • The upward moving cost curve
  • Mining nimbyism in Europe
  • Chemical expertise

What is Sigma Lithium working on now?

The company is working on enhancing the recoveries of its ultra-fine circuit. This requires an increase in the number of DMS systems from six to seven. The DMS plant will produce 270,000 tonnes of granulated “battery grade sustainable concentrate,” according to the company statements. The company aims to make the concentrate both a socially and environmentally sustainable product.

With the recent expansion to become a 20-year project, the focus of the expansion is to deliver as much material as possible in the next five years to meet the high-demand for lithium in the electric vehicle market.

Europe’s environmental sustainability future.

Ana Cabral speaks in high-favor of Europe’s approach to environmental sustainability and specifically the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). According to Cabral, the border adjustment mechanism is a form of carbon tax that is meant to level the playing field in terms of environmental standards between different industries in Europe.

She further explains that this can be a step forward for the environmental movement as it requires industrial operators in Europe to abide by strict environmental criteria and adjust products coming into the continent that are not produced with the same standards.

Cabral notes that the border adjustment mechanism is an intelligent way to incentivize industries to go green, as it promotes competition and eliminates the incentive for companies to move their operations offshore. Cabral believes that this mechanism is one of the most brilliant and clever ideas in decades and is exactly what the world should be thinking about as it strives towards a greener future.

Despite the progress being made in Europe, Nimbyism (Not In My Back Yard) continues to be a challenge in the region, as there is opposition to mining and protests against sustainability efforts.

Commitment to Brazil.

Cabral explains the importance of building a socially sustainable society to return value to the community. She highlights three key elements to consider in a sustainable investment;

  1. capital deployment
  2. investment value
  3. environmental and social impact

Sigma Lithium’s net present value (NPV) of phase one is estimated to be worth half a billion dollars. The local municipality will collect royalties on the final shipment price of battery-grade concentrates, which Sigma Lithium voluntarily decided to pay, in contrast to what the sector has done in the past. This allows the community to build its own resources and invest in social welfare, which can contribute to Sigma Lithium’s corporate plan for sustainability.

Please note: The articles and editorial content on EnergyNowAndNext.com are intended solely for educational purposes, and should not be used as a substitute for professional legal, insurance, or financial advice.

This post aims to provide you with information that can help facilitate productive discussions. Comments made by third parties or references to them are their own views, and EnergyNowAndNext.com accepts no responsibility for them. The information provided is solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as professional advice.