On 3 September 2020, the European Commission presented an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials. The aim of this plan is to secure the European Union’s access to critical Raw Materials by reducing its dependency on primary critical raw materials and strengthening domestic sourcing of raw materials in the EU to reduce its dependency on third countries.

With the Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, the European Commission outlines ten actions to achieve these ambitions, the first being the establishment a European Raw Materials Alliance. The European Raw Materials Alliance will bring together relevant stakeholders and will focus on building EU resilience and open strategic autonomy for the rare earths and magnets value chain, such as renewable energy, defence, and space, before extending to other raw material areas.

Vice-President Šefčovič and Commissioner Breton have also presented the 2020 List of Critical Raw Materials. The updated list adds 4 new critical raw materials (Bauxite, Lithium, Titanium and Strontium), making it 30 in total. In EuChemS Periodic Table of Elements Scarcity, published on the occasion of the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT19), Lithium and Strontium were already listed as elements in “serious threat in the next 100 years”.

Sources:
– EC Press release: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_1542