Raw materials are crucial to Europe’s economy. They form a strong industrial base, producing a broad range of goods and applications used in everyday life and modern technologies. Reliable and unhindered access to certain raw materials is a growing concern within the EU and across the globe. To address this challenge, the European Commission has created a list of critical raw materials (CRMs) for the EU, which is subject to a regular review and update. CRMs combine raw materials of high importance to the EU economy and of high risk associated with their supply.
The list of CRMs should help
The Commission carries out a criticality assessment at EU level on a wide range of non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials. The 2020 criticality assessment was carried out for 66 candidate materials (63 individual materials and 3 material groups: heavy rare earth elements, light rare earth elements, platinum group metals, amounting to 83 materials in total). In 2011, 41 materials were assessed, 54 materials were assessed in 2014, and 78 in 2017.
The main parameters used to determine the criticality of the material for the EU are
In 2023, a fifth list of 34 CRMs was published in the Annex II of the Regulation proposal COM(2023)based on the Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023 – Final Report
The assessment screened 70 candidate raw materials, comprising 67 individual materials and three materials groups: ten heavy (HREEs) and five light (LREEs) rare earth elements, and five platinum group metals (PGMs). Four new materials were assessed: neon, krypton, xenon and roundwood. Titanium metal has been assessed in addition to titanium. Aluminium and bauxite have been merged for consistency reasons. Copper and nickel do not meet the CRM thresholds but are included on the CRM list as strategic raw materials in line with the Critical Raw Materials Act.
Bauxite Coking Coal Lithium Phosphorus Antimony Feldspar Light rare earth elements Scandium Arsenic Fluorspar Magnesium Silicon metal Baryte Gallium Manganese Strontium Beryllium Germanium Natural Graphite Tantalum Bismuth Hafnium Niobium Titanium metal Boron/Borate Helium Platinum group metals Tungsten Cobalt Heavy rare earth elements Phosphate Rock Vanadium Copper Nickel
An EU foresight report complements the criticality assessment with the forward-looking perspective focused on selected strategic technologies and sectors. In 2023, a second foresight study assesses 15 technologies mapped to 5 strategic sectors. The update of the study gives a current picture of the technologies’ materials demand in 2030 and 2050,and provides a more complete picture of the technologies needed to reach the EU’s strategic goals. The study also served as supporting evidence in the development of the Critical Raw Materials Act and the list of strategic raw materials.
See the SCRREEN project website for more on each critical raw material: Raw materials factsheets by SCRREEN project
The EU’s industry and economy are reliant on international markets to provide access to many important raw materials since they are produced and supplied by third countries. Although the domestic production of certain critical raw materials exists in the EU, notably hafnium, in most cases the EU is dependent on imports from non-EU countries.
The supply of many critical raw materials is highly concentrated. For example, China provides 100 % of the EU’s supply of heavy rare earth elements (REE), Turkey provides 99% of the EU’s supply of boron, and South Africa provides 71% of the EU’s needs for platinum and an even higher share of the platinum group metals iridium, rhodium, and ruthenium.
The risks associated with the concentration of production are in many cases compounded by low substitution and low recycling rates.
The Critical Raw Materials Act is a comprehensive response to the risks of critical raw materials supply disruption and the structural vulnerabilities of EU critical raw materials supply chains. Therefore, the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRM Act) will ensure EU access to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials, enabling Europe to meet its climate and digital objectives, keeping EU industrial competitiveness and ensuring the well-functioning of the single market.
See our Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) page
Material system analysis (MSA) consists of a map of the flows of materials through the EU economy, as raw materials or as parts of components or products. It shows their movement from entry into the economy (extraction and import), along the value chain (production, additions to stock) to exit (consumption, exports), and end-of-life through either disposal or recovery.
