The European Union does not want to miss the train ecological and digital transition against China, Japan and the United States your supply chain is blocked due to a lack of basic raw materials in the development of strategic sectors such as electric cars, hydrogen storage, digital industry, aerospace or defense sectors. To achieve this, European Commission adopted a battery this Thursday legislative proposals With this, it aims to limit dependency on third countries, diversify and increase cooperation with reliable trading partners, promote the circularity of strategic mines and, meanwhile, strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.
Months ago, Brussels started working on how to accelerate strategic autonomy on green and digital issues, but discount law inflation American (IRA), which provides 369,000 million to assist in the development of clean technologies, forced it to step on the accelerator. First, the European Commission proposes to Twenty-seven, which will have to negotiate and agree on the proposal package with Parliament, that “at least 40%” of the clean technologies used by 2030 are self-produced. “We will continue to trade with our partners, not everything will be done in Europe, but more needs to be done. The law aims to create the conditions for this to happen”, explained the Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermanns.
It is about developing technologies that will contribute significantly to decarbonisation in Europe. These include solar photovoltaic and solar thermal, onshore wind and offshore renewable energy, batteries and storage, heat pumps and geothermal energy, electrolysers and fuel cells, biogas/biomethane, carbon capture, exploitation and storage, and grid technologies. Such projects will receive special support and will be subject to 40% domestic production criteria, but other projects that also contribute to emissions reduction will include advanced technologies, small modular reactors and alternative facilities to generate nuclear power with minimal fuel cycle waste. fuels.
With the development of clean technologies ‘Made in Europe’, Brussels is also accelerating plans to launch a new project. European Hydrogen Bank, One of the measures announced under the European Green Pact. The idea is to launch the first pilot tenders for renewable hydrogen production in the fall of 2023. Selected projects will receive a subsidy in the form of a flat premium per kilogram of hydrogen produced for a maximum of 10 years of operation. According to Brussels, this will increase the reliability of projects and reduce overall capital costs. The EU auction platform will also be able to offer “auctions-as-a-service” for member states, which will facilitate hydrogen production in Europe, and Brussels expects all elements of the Hydrogen Bank to be operational before the end of the year.
More extraction in Europe
However, a key element in the development of the European green industry is access to critical raw materials. The current problem in Europe is that it depends too much on suppliers from third countries, both in the extraction phase and in their conversion. For example, the EU supplies 97% of its magnesium requirement. Chinese The heavy rare earths used in magnets are refined only in the Asian giant. Similar to cobalt used in batteries: 63% of this mineral worldwide Democratic Republic of the Congo 60% is refined in China; or borate almost entirely (98%) from Turkey.
With the transition to renewable energy and the digitization of the economy, some of these issues will become even more necessary. This situation means that lithium, which is used in the production of car batteries or energy storage, is needed. In 2050 it will be multiplied by 89 and 17 from gallium, which is used to manufacture semiconductors. The new law on critical issues proposed this Thursday sets out what should be considered “strategic” because of their importance for the ecological and digital transition and their use in defense and space applications, which will be reviewed every four years. The list includes a total of 16, ranging from bismuth to cobalt, copper, gallium, lithium, magnesium, germanium, tungsten, rare earth elements for magnets, graphite, manganese, platinum, and titanium, among others.
The regulation sets expedited permits for strategic projects, greater oversight of supply chains – some large companies will need to conduct audits and stress-testing of their supply chains – and set a goal of achieving at least 10% of the EU by 2030. the minerals you consume (compared to 3% today) process 40% of what you consume and recycle at least 15%. “If these levels are reached, the annual consumption of the Union by 2030 – a figure of 70% was taken into account in previous drafts – the European Commission says that each strategic raw material at any relevant stage of the transformation comes from a single third country. “Absolutely necessary,” warned the industry commissioner. Thierry Breton.
EU countries should also adopt and implement national measures to improve the collection of wastes rich in critical raw materials and ensure their recycling to secondary critical raw materials, as well as explore the potential for recovery of critical raw materials from extractive wastes from existing mining. historical mining waste foundries as well as activities. The plan also envisions using the Europe Global Gateway strategy, which aims to promote cooperation with third countries, as a tool to help third countries develop their extraction and conversion capacities, and to create a raw materials club for allied countries that wish to strengthen their supplies. It includes access to raw materials in global chains and trade agreements with existing or new third countries. For example, they have recently signed agreements with New Zealand or Chile that include a chapter on raw materials and are working with Australia. “What we can offer is to create mutually beneficial partnerships. “It’s not just about extracting and processing them elsewhere, it’s also about helping countries improve their supply chains,” the vice president said. Valdis Dombrovskis.