As critical raw materials (CRMs) move to the center of geopolitical and industrial competition, the
European Union faces an urgent need to secure reliable access and reduce strategic vulnerabilities.
While the U.S. and China have long pursued assertive CRM strategies, Europe has only recently begun consolidating its industrial and regulatory response. This roundtable assessed how Europe can
strengthen its resilience, enhance circularity, and build meaningful partnerships to secure its long-term industrial competitiveness.
Key takeaways:
Strategic Challenges and Solutions
- Fragmented Response: Europe’s policy reaction to CRM dependency came later than global competitors like the U.S., China, and Japan. Despite recent legislative gains, the EU still lacks a fully integrated strategic approach capable of aligning industrial policy, investment, and diplomacy.
- Industrial vs. Environmental Tensions: For years, the EU deprioritized mining due to environmental concerns. Now, it must balance sustainability with industrial urgency. A shift that requires political consistency and clear messaging.
- Regulatory and Financial Bottlenecks: Participants cited Europe’s slow permitting processes, underfunded initiatives, and a lack of streamlined access to capital as major obstacles to faster CRM development and innovation adoption.
- Data and Transparency Gaps: Industries are unable to predict material needs accurately due to weak forecasting capacity, which limits effective investment decisions and hampers policy implementation.
- Weak Public-Private Coordination: Both institutional speakers and industry representatives emphasized the need for strategic forums that facilitate operational coordination between governments, companies, and research institutions.
Strategic Lag and Policy Response
- Europe has historically lagged behind the U.S., China, and Japan in CRM strategy. Although the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and Net-Zero Industry Act mark legislative progress, participants acknowledged that they alone cannot close the competitive gap.
- The new industrial paradigm post-2024 elections signals a shift from “Green Deal” to a broader “Industrial Deal,” with resilience and competitiveness now central to EU industrial strategy.
Europe’s Limits and Leverage
- European mining potential is limited; even if all announced EU projects succeed, reliance on imports, especially from China will remain high. However, Europe retains strategic leverage as a massive consumer market.
- This position can be used to forge deeper, more value-based international partnerships, particularly with candidate countries and resource-rich states like Ukraine, Serbia, and Australia.
Partnerships Must Move Beyond Rhetoric
- Multiple participants stressed the need for meaningful capital deployment and technological collaboration in Europe’s international CRM partnerships. Europe must match its rhetorical ambitions with real investment and technical cooperation to remain competitive with China’s state-led, long-term strategy.
Circularity and Demand Efficiency
- Industry actors emphasized that reducing demand is as crucial as securing supply.
- Europe must invest in technologies that require fewer CRMs and adopt effective recycling and reuse models.
- The current circular economy performance is poor: most vehicles are still scrapped or exported with minimal recovery of usable materials.
Environmental Standards and Public Trust
- Political inconsistency and lack of community engagement were cited as major barriers to CRM projects, particularly in candidate countries.
- Projects must be built to the EU’s highest environmental standards to gain public trust and long-term legitimacy.
Strategic Coherence and Industrial Dialogue
- Participants emphasized the need for stronger public-private coordination, especially in aligning capital flows and investment priorities.
- Regulatory sandboxes, innovation financing, and realistic demand forecasting should be accelerated.
Practical Lessons from Competitors
- China’s approach is holistic, state-backed, and spans from discovery to processing.
- The EU must take a similarly strategic approach, focusing on both upstream and downstream CRM processes.
- The U.S. model under the Inflation Reduction Act, with direct public funding and incentives, was frequently cited as a more agile alternative.
Recommendations for Implementation:
- Launch a Pan-European Strategic Investment Facility: Streamline funding access for CRM infrastructure, prioritizing extraction, refining, and recycling within the EU and partner countries.
- Institutionalize Strategic Partnerships: Go beyond MOUs and declarations by deploying capital and technology transfers in countries like Serbia, Ukraine, and Australia.
- Reform Regulatory Frameworks: Accelerate permitting and environmental review processes while maintaining high ESG standards, especially for projects in sensitive regions.
- Prioritize Circularity: Establish a European Recycling Standard for CRM-rich products such as vehicles and electronics. Invest in technologies that maximize secondary use of materials.
- Build Forecasting Capacity: Mandate industry-level multi-year CRM demand forecasts and improve CRM-related data collection and analytics across the EU.
- Align Industrial and Trade Policy: Ensure that trade negotiations and industrial subsidies prioritize CRM security over short-term commercial gains.