The global powers rush to move forward in the mineral race necessary to produce new technologies such as micropuices, solar panels and electric cars.
US President Donald Trump diplomatic force To access Canada, Greenland and the mineral wealth of Ukraine.
China uses its quasi-monopoly on the mineral refining market for take over on its geopolitical rivals.
In this new battlefield among the world powers, where is the European Union?
According to the EU executive, the EU's request for certain elements is scheduled for Sky-Rocket in the next decade. Its lithium needs, for example, essential to produce batteries for electric vehicles, will increase twelve times by 2030 and an amazing twenty -once by 2050.
EU’s high dependence on third countries unique for certain materials makes it vulnerable. For example, it depends on China for 100% of its heavy elements of rare land (REE), Turkey for 99% of its boron supply and South Africa for 71% of the plate.
China has already curl exports From some EU minerals, including those critical for a range of semiconductor aerospace sectors.
What is the critical law on raw materials?
The bloc bets on its critical law on raw materials (CRMA) – legislation adopted in March of last year – to avoid the disturbances of its mineral supply chains.
It aims to reduce vulnerabilities by exploiting more minerals on European soil, while pursuing partnerships with partners rich in resources “sharing the same ideas” – 14 transactions have already been signed, in particular with Serbia, Australia, Greenland, Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The law lists 34 materials that the block judges “criticism”, of which 17 are priority as “strategic”, including lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements.
It also sets ambitious objectives in the EU to extract 10%, to deal with 40% and to recycle 25% of its annual consumption of strategic raw materials by 2030.
“The recycling of raw materials above the ground, the urban mine is an attractive avenue for Europe,” said Edoardo Righetti, a researcher for reflection groups, CEPS explained: “Because we have a relatively limited extraction capacity, an extraction potential.”
“But for most of these materials, recycling rates are still relatively low. We have not yet had enough technologies that have still reached the end of life,” he added. “There are also other more structural problems, including the cost of recycling, underdeveloped collection systems or ineffective collection systems.”
The EU executive tries to overcome obstacles by reducing administrative charges on companies, for example by giving access to finance and by establishing shorter permit times of 27 months for extraction permits and 15 months for the treatment and recycling of permits.
Could local socio-environmental concerns retain projects?
The Commission recently selected 47 so-called “strategic” projects in 13 Member States, the first in a wider pool of projects to exploit, refine and recycle more raw materials at the national level.
ADVERTISEMENTThe objective, says the executive, is to ensure a “secure and sustainable” offer of these critical materials by maximizing Europe's resources.
However, rural communities across Europe could make challenges.
Plans to exploit lithium in Portugal have already triggered strong resistanceresidents and environmental NGOs. They cite potential environmental damage and a disruption of the lives of those who live in affected communities.
The same resistance appeared in Serbia, an EU candidate country, where demonstrations broke out last summer in the middle of the intention to open the largest operating operation in Europe in the Fertile Valley of Jadar, announced only a few weeks after the EU won a raw material agreement with the Serbian government.
ADVERTISEMENTIs the EU at risk of late in the race?
The rules of the game also change, because Donald Trump adopts an increasingly aggressive approach to mineral race.
The American president aggressively demanded access to Ukraine's mineral wealth in exchange for Washington military support, threatened to annex neighboring Canada, rich in resources and wishes to “buy” Greenland to take control of its basic products.
“The EU has a memorandum of understanding (on raw materials) signed with Ukraine, but at the same time, the Trump administration pushed Ukraine to sign a agreement in exchange for continuous military support – or reimbursement for military support to this day, because the White House would have – where they wish, essentially the open access to all the mineral resources of Ukraine. Hodgson, a senior Energy and Environment journalist from Euronews, explains.
He adds that similar moral puzzles occur when the EU signs similar milking with areas affected by conflicts where the product of mineral trade is used to finance armed groups, fueling human rights violations.
ADVERTISEMENT“Rwanda recently entered place because the Rwandan army supported rebel groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said. “And there have been credible reports from the UN and NGOs that minerals are smuggled through the Rwanda border, then exported to Europe – known as conflict minerals.”
The EU executive said that in February, its raw material agreement with Rwanda was “under examination” after the M23 rebels supported by Rwandans have seized the control of the territory of the eastern DRC, which encouraged international conviction.
Watch the full episode in the video above.
Journalist: Mared Gwyn Jones
ADVERTISEMENTContent production: Pilar Montero López
Video Production: Zacharia Vigneron
Graphics: Lordana Dumitru
Edine coordination:
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