The European Commission has picked 46 'strategic projects' which it hopes will help to diversify its critical minerals supply chain and reduce its reliance on imports.
Europe's Critical Raw Materials Act, which came into force in May 2024, establishes measures to strengthen the EU's capacity along the critical raw materials value chains and diversify its sources of supply. This move, the Commission says, will enhance competitiveness, develop greater resilience and make the bloc less dependent on any single supplier. The legislation set the target that, by 2030, domestic capacity will meet at least 10% of the EU’s annual consumption for extraction, 40% for processing, and 25% for recycling of strategic raw materials. The projects are expected to require approximately €21.1 billion in capital investment to become operational.
"Today, the EU depends heavily on third countries for many of these materials, principally China, a dependence which has already been used against the EU by limiting their supplies on the market and thus EU companies' ability to source these inputs. The strategic projects strengthen Europe's own capacity and thus make supply chains more resilient to disruptions. The projects therefore contribute to the competitiveness of European industry and to the EU's green, digital, and defence objectives," the Commission said.
Strategic raw materials are those used for products and technologies that are important for Europe's economy and security - including batteries, renewable energy technologies, digital technologies, defence equipment, and aerospace. Critical minerals which include lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, magnesium and tungsten, are an essential part of the European Commission’s plan to meet its climate and digital objectives.
Strategic project status gives projects a number of benefits, including streamlined permitting, support in accessing financing, and assistance in connecting suppliers and buyers.
The projects will strengthen European value chains in batteries, defence and aerospace, and permanent magnets. Seven projects are focused on lithium, 12 cover nickel, 10 are on cobalt, five on manganese and four on graphite supporting the EU’s battery value chain. The defence and aerospace sector will be supported with two projects on magnesium, and three on tungsten, while the permanent magnet value chain will be supported by four projects on rare earth elements.
Stéphane Séjourné, executive vice-president for prosperity and industrial strategy said: “With this second wave of strategic projects, Europe is stepping up its efforts like never before to reclaim its sovereignty over critical raw materials […] Our approach is simple: reduce dependency, increase production in Europe. We have the resources, the projects and the funding: now we are picking up the pace.”
The Commission says that when these 46 projects are combined with 47 strategic projects that were selected in March, 2025, and the 13 strategic projects located in third countries that were selected in June, 2025, these could fully meet the extraction benchmarks for lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, magnesium and tungsten. At the same time the processing benchmarks for lithium and rare earth elements would also be met. The projects selected during 2025 are close to becoming operational with impact assessments and construction permits being obtained for a significant number of them.
A new call for strategic project applications is slated for the end of 2026.
Further reading:
- Critical minerals supply chains: More investments in skills and innovation
- Critical minerals: Why supply chain worries have gone from risk to reality
- Why the US wants to remake the critical minerals supply chain
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