Critical raw materials

This news release discusses CRMs based on the official list of critical raw materials maintained by the European Commission. This list identifies 34 individual critical raw materials including two (copper and nickel) that are considered not critical but strategic. Aluminium was added to the list recently by the European Council, but aluminium imports were considered only briefly in this analysis (instead, bauxite was assessed more comprehensively).

In specifying CRMs, the underlying criteria are that the material has significant economic importance and there is a potential supply risk. The list is updated every three years by the European Commission. The last updated version of the list (March 2023) was used in our publication. In addition, there are strategic materials: considered essential in technologies that are crucial for the EU’s ambitions towards energy supply and digitalisation, but also for defence and space technology applications.

Following is a complete list of the critical and strategic raw materials: antimony, arsenic, baryte, bauxite, beryllium, bismuth, boron/borate, cobalt, coking coal, copper, feldspar, fluorspar, phosphate rock, gallium, germanium, hafnium, helium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, natural graphite, nickel, niobium, PGM, phosphate rock, phosphorus, rare earth elements (LREE and HREE), scandium, silicon metal, strontium, tantalum, titanium metal, tungsten, vanadium.

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