EU Commission selects 46 new raw materials projects
From a pool of 102 applications, the European Commission selected 46 projects to receive accelerated permitting procedures and improved access to financing, spanning 16 member states and covering extraction, processing and recycling. Germany obtained eight projects, more than any other member state, four of which are in the recycling sector. According to the Commission, the projects could fully cover the extraction targets for lithium and nickel and the lithium processing target.
Why it matters: The selection bears directly on the critical raw materials theme, since the Critical Raw Materials Act's 2030 benchmarks for domestic extraction, processing and recycling, and its limit on single-third-country supply, frame European supply-chain policy.