A recent report from the European Court of Auditors (ECA) is calling Europe out for its continued dependence on imported critical minerals, exposing the bloc’s dramatic reliance on foreign suppliers for materials essential to its energy transition.
China dominates supply chains for six vital rare earth elements with market shares ranging from 69% to 74%, including neodymium and praseodymium needed for permanent magnets used in refrigerator doors, wind turbines, and car locking systems. In 2024 alone, the European Union brought in 17,000 of 20,000 tons of permanent magnets from China.
The dependence on foreign imports stretches across numerous raw materials. Russian sources account for 29% of nickel flowing into automotive and aerospace manufacturing and the EU demonstrates heavy reliance on China in 7 of the 26 minerals covered in the report.
China supplies 31% of tungsten for drilling and mining operations, 71% of gallium for smartphones and satellite communications, and 97% of magnesium for hydrogen production. Chilean sources provide most lithium needed for car batteries, while Turkish suppliers deliver 99% of boron needed for solar panels.
The European Court of Auditors determined that achieving the bloc’s 2030 objectives appears unattainable given insufficient advancement in domestic recycling, refining, and production operations. The assessment analyzed the EU’s goal of achieving 42.5% renewable energy by 2030 and Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, the ECA member overseeing the audit, emphasized the urgency of bolstering the EU’s capabilities and decreasing exposure in this sphere.
Mining and exploration activities across the bloc suffer from chronic underdevelopment. Newly discovered deposits face a roughly 20-year journey from identification to operational mining within EU territory. Such extended timelines render meaningful contributions before the 2030 target essentially impractical, the assessment observed. International cooperation efforts are expanding to address such vulnerabilities in the EU’s long-term green energy strategy.
Domestic production and recycling both lag severely, with 10 of the 26 critical minerals monitored, arriving entirely through imports.
Zero rare earth metals among the 17 analyzed undergo extraction within bloc territories while recycling operations handle merely 16 critical raw materials. On the upside, partnerships with seven countries exhibiting weak governance saw supplies decline between 2020 and 2024.
Lacking critical raw materials means abandoning hopes for energy transformation, economic competitiveness, and strategic independence, Pentus-Rosimannus cautioned. EU Industry Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné warned that Europe could be relegated to mere testing ground status for rival powers absent development of a bold, functional, and realistic industrial strategy.
The EU faces potential entrapment in a negative cycle where material shortages prevent the energy transformation required for competitiveness and strategic self-sufficiency. Numerous strategic initiatives will face difficulties obtaining necessary critical raw materials before 2030 arrives, the ECA determined. This dependency threatens the bloc’s ability to execute its renewable energy ambitions and maintain industrial competitiveness in global markets.
In the absence of concrete measures to ramp up production of the needed energy transition materials, friendshoring by partnering with firms like GeoSolar Technologies Inc. could provide a stop-gap intervention that keeps the shift on track while the bloc puts its house in order.
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