Critical raw materials
The criteria for inclusion as a critical raw materials are significant economic importance to the EU and the presence of a potential supply risk - because, for example, extraction is concentrated in particular regions. The list is updated by the European Commission every three years. This news item is based on the most recent update (from March 2023) and addition of aluminum in 2023. In addition to critical raw materials, there are strategic raw materials. These are considered essential for technological applications and essential to the EU’s ambitions for the energy transition (i.e. tackling climate change) and digitalisation, but also for applications in defence and space technology.
The following is a complete list of critical and strategic materials: aluminum and bauxite, antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, borate (boron), coking coal, phosphorus (phosphate), phosphorite (phosphate ore), gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, helium, cobalt, copper, lithium, magnesium, manganese, nickel, niobium, platinum metals, silicon metal, scandium, strontium, tantalum, titanium, vanadium, feldspar, fluorspar, tungsten and rare earth minerals (light and heavy).
Chart 1 is based on 32 materials among Dutch imports (light and heavy earth metals and scandium are all included here under rare earth metals). With respect to global extraction, stocks and processing, data is not available for all these materials, partly because some materials are not extracted directly and some materials are not processed. There are 26 critical raw materials in extraction, 25 in stockpiles and 24 in processing.