By Dr Florian Anderhuber, Deputy Director General, Director Energy, Climate & Sustainability, Euromines.
Mining sits at the foundation of Europe’s green mobility transition. The sector is not only supplying critical materials, but is itself undergoing rapid electrification, with more than 70% of metals mining already electrified.
Thus, the transition is a dual one: how to green the value chain for the materials on which green mobility relies – a supply-side question –, while greening mobility in energy supply, infrastructure, while increasing its market share -, a demand side question. Both must go hand in hand: without a stable demand signal, the raw materials supply will face price volatility and chokepoints.
Recent geopolitical shocks, supply chain disruptions and rising global demand have brought raw materials security to the centre of EU policymaking. Diversification and increased domestic production are now strategic priorities
Responsible minerals need a responsible vision
The European Union is fighting to save our industrial ecosystems from unfair competitors and redress the complacency towards industrial policy that has eroded our raw materials base. Credibility and market confidence are what we need, and the key to achieving this is strategic clustering and a fully-fledged, coherent, and unapologetic industrial policy: a vision that integrates supply, demand, mining and manufacturing. This is already being developed through initiatives such as the Industrial Accelerator Act and ResourceEU and must be pushed further. This policy approach would make EU industrial policy more credible, backed by private capital so that investments take place, and responsible projects take off the ground together, clustering the value chains that we deem strategic and where our dependencies persist: clean tech, batteries, and defence.
Responsible raw materials need responsible markets
Buying minerals and metals alone does not guarantee a greater resilience or better practices. Both the OECD and the IEA have proven that “responsible is reliable”. But it is a societal imperative to accept that it comes at a cost.
A responsible raw materials market would have to move beyond the just-in-time, at lowest-price paradigm, if the objective is to diversify and to not just be green at the level of the application but across the full ecosystem. Responsible markets would be guided by bespoke policy tools for individual minerals (stockpiling schemes, resilience conditionalities, price floors…). But pragmatism here, shaped by multiple raw-material crises and the weaponisation of this sector, tells us that there is no all-in-one solution.
Responsible raw materials supply needs responsible regulation
Competitiveness is not a regulation; it is the outcome of regulation and prudent policymaking. Prudence must be understood here as a joint effort to rethink and review objectives, and to allow trade-offs wherever necessary. Scepticism, but no dogmatism.
With the long permitting times, final investment decisions are carefully deliberated against the risk of being priced out of the market. This is not only valid for mining but also for the application of innovative techniques that require permits.
Euromines’ Decarbonization Pathway demonstrates the need for a framework to render the EU competitive again on both the supply and demand sides, tackling unsustainably high energy costs, mainly through a change in the electricity market design.
Ultimately, Europe’s green mobility ambitions depend on secure, sustainable and competitive raw material supply. Aligning mining, industrial policy and transport deployment is therefore not optional, but a prerequisite for delivering the transition at scale.
Learn more at www.euromines.org
