The European Commission has announced the selection of 46 new Strategic Projects aimed at strengthening the European Union’s supply of critical raw materials. The projects have been selected under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) framework and are intended to reduce strategic dependencies in key industrial sectors across Europe. Further details are available here. The complete list of selected projects can be found here.

The selected projects cover multiple stages of the value chain, including extraction, processing, recycling and substitution of critical raw materials. Their objective is to expand European capacities and strengthen strategic autonomy in areas essential for the green and digital transitions.

Critical raw materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements are indispensable for batteries, renewable energy technologies, semiconductors, defence applications and modern digital infrastructure. Ensuring secure access to these materials is therefore a key element of Europe’s competitiveness agenda.

Support for the Strategic Projects is also expected to attract private investment, accelerate permitting procedures and improve the resilience of European supply chains against geopolitical and market-related risks. The initiative represents one of the EU’s main instruments for securing a sustainable and reliable supply of critical raw materials over the long term.