Page 34 - European Energy Innovation magazine - spring 2023 edition

Spring 2023 European Energy Innovation
34 ELECTROMOBILITY

Where the Critical Raw Material

Act should critically act

By Platform for electromobility

he vital transition away from Three identified flaws for Europe The second flaw is the excessive
fossil fuels and towards on CRMs hurdles to the permitting. In
cleaner technologies such In light of the urgent transition to particular, the plurality of mining
Tas electric transportations e-mobility and the need to ramp codes in Europe creates different
–cars, trucks, buses, trains, public up a domestic Electric Vehicle (EV) levels of ambition and incoherence
transportations etc. – will drive the value chain in Europe, the EU is first across Member States which in some
demand for raw materials such as and foremost lacking domestic cases may threaten safeguards to
lithium, nickel, copper, and cobalt in capacity that goes beyond battery social or environmental protection.
varying amounts depending on the manufacturing, i.e extracting but also Permitting processes become too
technologies and applications. and critically refining and processing lengthy when multiple permits are
capacity, along with recycling. required for both renewable energy
Whilst some Critical Raw Materials Such processes are still almost production and sustainable mineral
(CRM) are available on the EU entirely done in resource-rich, more extraction projects. Member States
territory, Europe remains largely experienced and competitive third lack expert capacity to ensure
dependent on third countries for countries, thus jeopardizing both the the efficient, robust and timely
mining, processing, refining and autonomy of Europe in CRM and the evaluation of Environmental Impact
recycling, a dependency amplified by respect of the upmost environmental Assessments and Area Assessments.
current geopolitical and supply chain standards
tensions causing volatility and raising Thirdly, there are limited amounts of
prices and uncertainties on global It is crucial for Europe to build sustainably sourced, highest quality
supply. processing and refining capacity in materials, notably due to incomplete,
Europe for battery materials using limited mapping of geological and
We therefore strongly welcome the existing domestic sources of valuable remining potentials. There are also
principle of Commission’s CRM Act materials and to increase recycling barriers to the reuse and repurposing
and will shortly publish a detailed capability and competitiveness to of EV parts, which could extend the
assessment for the electromobility reduce the EU’s dependence on lifecycle of CRMs before recycling,
ecosystem view point. primary raw materials. thereby reducing final CRM demand.

Consequently, the Platform for
electromobility highlight the need for
the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act
(the Act) to consider to the following
10 areas:

1. Strategic steering
We welcome the objective of
establishing a single European
strategy on raw materials that
defines expected needs, challenges,
priorities, and key lines of actions
with specific objectives of reducing
the need of primary CRMs, with
efficient repurposing, reuse and
recycle while maintaining high
environmental and social standards
and increasing their supply security.
The objective of a coherent, EU-wide

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