This is an extract from a recent report “Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025” by IEA. This extract specifically focuses on Europe.

Supply and investment snapshot

Europe is a significant player in silver, holding nearly 10% of global reserves and accounting for 9% of global production, primarily in Poland. The region also maintains a modest presence in copper, cobalt and nickel, accounting for 5%, 3% and 2% of global mining output (respectively). Future growth potential is contingent on further exploration, technological improvements and regulatory support such as the European Union (EU) Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). The market value of Europe’s key energy minerals production currently stands at approximately USD 13 billion for mining and USD 21 billion for refining in 2024, largely due to copper mining and refining. Announced projects indicate a growth in refining to USD 30 billion by 2040, primarily driven by copper and nickel refining. Europe represents about 8% of the global market value for refined materials by 2040, with growth driven by Belgium, Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

Latest policy developments

European nations are continuing to deploy efforts to reduce import dependencies and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities, including through increased domestic production and supply chain diversification. EU member states and the European Commission are continuing to implement the CRMA, which came into force in May 2024 and seeks to ensure that EU extraction, processing and recycling of strategic raw materials meet 10%, 40% and 25% of annual EU consumption by 2030 respectively. In March 2025, the European Commission reached an important milestone in CRMA implementation with the adoption of the first list of “strategic projects” on EU territory. Projects designated as “strategic” will benefit from streamlined permitting provisions, easier access to finance and institutional support to connect with relevant off-takers. 

A total of 47 projects across 13 EU member states have been selected, covering 14 raw materials and involving various segments of the value chain (from mining to processing and recycling). The European Commission could soon recognise additional projects located in non-European countries as “strategic” under the CRMA. In addition, the European Commission intends to create a joint purchasing platform for critical minerals in 2025 (based on the European Union’s experience with natural gas purchasing) and is exploring the creation of raw material stockpiles. In the United Kingdom (UK), the government has announced that it will publish a new critical minerals strategy in 2025 to replace the previous one issued in 2022. European nations are also stepping up funding for, and investment in, critical mineral projects.

The European Commission and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development launched a joint facility in July 2024 to provide equity investments for exploration activities, aiming to mobilise around EUR 100 million in investments. Later, in March 2025, the European Investment Bank adopted a new critical minerals initiative that includes an expected EUR 2 billion in funding and a dedicated one-stop shop for raw material projects. That same month, the European Commission released an Action Plan for the Automotive Industry, which includes a Battery Booster package. As part of this package, the European Commission will disburse EUR 1.8 billion to support companies manufacturing batteries and plans to introduce local content requirements for battery cells and electric vehicle (EV) components. Also announced as part of this package is the planned creation of a Battery Raw Materials Access Entity that will help car manufacturers obtain raw materials by pooling their investments. 

At the national level, many governments are allocating funds for critical minerals projects, including through the establishment of national investment funds for raw material projects. In 2023, France established a public-private critical minerals investment fund, which includes EUR 500 million from the French government and seeks to raise an additional EUR 1.5 billion from private investors. In Germany, a EUR 1 billion raw materials fund has been created, managed by Germany’s state-owned development bank. The Italian government has similarly announced the creation of a Made in Italy fund, consisting of EUR 1 billion in public funds. In the Netherlands, Invest International (the Dutch national investment entity) announced in March 2025 that it would launch a public-private investment fund to secure Dutch and European access to critical raw materials. 

In the United Kingdom, a GBP 15 million funding programme has been launched to support innovation in rare earth supply chains, while the National Wealth Fund has invested GBP 24 million in a domestic lithium project. The United Kingdom has also set up a GBP 850 million Automotive Transformation Fund to support the development of a domestic zero-emission vehicle supply chain, which has been used to provide funding for a rare earth separation project, a lithium refinery project, and a geothermal brine lithium project. European nations are also attracting investments from abroad: in March 2025, the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) and Iwatani announced a plan to invest EUR 110 million in a French rare earth refining project through a joint venture called Japan France Rare Earths. 

European nations are also engaging with countries outside Europe in an attempt to secure access to critical raw materials. France has signed 15 strategic mineral partnerships, while the United Kingdom has signed 9 of them. The European Commission has similarly signed raw material partnerships with 14 countries, and in January 2025 announced that it would begin negotiating new Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships, which will contain provisions on regulatory co-operation, trade and investment rules, and global investment. European export credit agencies are also increasingly being called upon to provide financial support for overseas raw materials projects on which European importers rely. For example, in October 2024, UK Export Finance announced that it would provide financial support (in the form of credit guarantees) to overseas companies that supply critical minerals to UK companies, while Atradius DSB (the Dutch export credit agency) is currently piloting a loan guarantee facility for raw material projects that have economic significance for the Netherlands. 

As regards sustainability policies, the European Commission proposed an omnibus simplification package in February 2025 that aims to streamline sustainability requirements, including those contained in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Proposed changes include: narrowing the scope of covered entities; delaying the implementation of requirements by one to two years; reducing the frequency of monitoring exercises from annually to every five years; removing the requirement to put into effect a transition plan; eliminating the EU-wide civil liability regime; harmonising due diligence provisions; and limiting due diligence to direct suppliers. At the same time, in March 2025, the European Commission clarified a long-standing ambiguity and reclassified black mass as hazardous waste, thereby banning the export of black mass to non-member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As part of the Competitiveness Compass released in January 2025, the European Commission also announced its intention to introduce a Circular Economy Act in 2026 to promote greater recycling by EU industry. 

Access the report here