The Commission has adopted, for the first time, a list of 47 strategic projects to boost national strategic raw materials capacities, which in turn will strengthen the European raw materials value chain and diversify sources of supply. The new strategic projects mark an important milestone in the implementation of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which aims to ensure that European extraction, processing and recycling of strategic raw materials meet 10%, 40% and 25% of EU demand by 2030 respectively. By helping Europe meet these targets, the new strategic projects contribute significantly to Europe’s green and digital transitions, while supporting the European defence and aerospace industries.
Overview of selected projects
The 47 new strategic projects are located in 13 EU Member States: Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Czech Republic, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Poland and Romania. They cover one or more segments of the raw materials value chain, with 25 projects comprising extraction, 24 processing, 10 recycling and 2 raw material substitution activities. The strategic projects cover 14 of the 17 strategic raw materials listed in the Key Raw Materials Act. This includes several projects covering lithium (22 projects), nickel (12 projects), cobalt (10 projects), manganese (7 projects) and graphite (11 projects), which will particularly benefit the EU battery raw material value chain.These projects will ensure that the EU can fully meet its 2030 extraction, processing and recycling benchmarks for lithium and cobalt, while making substantial progress on graphite, nickel and manganese. In addition, other strategic projects related to magnesium (1 project) and tungsten (3 projects) will contribute to the resilience of the EU defence industry, which depends on the use of these materials.
These projects were selected because they contribute to the EU’s secure supply of strategic raw materials, meet environmental, social and governance criteria and are technically feasible. In addition, the selected projects have also demonstrated clear cross-border benefits for the EU.
Benefits for the selected projects
To become operational, the 47 strategic projects have an expected overall capital investment of ¤22.5 billion. These projects will be able to benefit from coordinated support from the Commission, Member States and financial institutions to become operational, in particular in terms of access to finance and support to connect with relevant buyers. They will also benefit from simplified permitting provisions to ensure predictability for project developers, while safeguarding environmental, social and governance standards. According to the CRMA, the permitting process will not exceed 27 months for extractive projects and 15 months for other projects. Currently, permitting processes can take five to 10 years.
Context
The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) entered into force on 23 May 2024. On the same day, the Commission published a call for proposals for the recognition of projects as strategic projects with a deadline of 22 August 2024. The Commission assessed the applications considered complete with the support of external experts to verify whether the projects met the relevant criteria under the CRMA. On the basis of this assessment, the Commission identified a list of projects for the extraction, processing, recycling or substitution of strategic raw materials. The Commission consulted the Key Raw Materials Council, composed of Member States and the European Parliament as an observer, to discuss and adopt an opinion on the list of strategic projects on 20 February 2025 and 12 March 2025. The Commission also received applications for projects located in third countries. The decision on the possible selection of such projects will be taken at a later stage. The Commission will shortly announce a new call for applications for strategic projects, currently planned for late summer.
More information: European Commission
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