46 new Strategic Projects for the EU’s Supply of Critical Raw Materials

To strengthen EU supply chains and diversify sources of critical raw materials, the European
Commission announced that it has selected 46 new Strategic Projects across 16 Member States.
The projects will contribute to the benchmarks set in the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) that by
2030 EU capacity meets at least 10% of the EU’s annual consumption for extraction, 40% for
processing, and 25% for recycling of strategic raw materials to enhance competitiveness, develop
greater resilience and be less dependent on any single supplier.

To Accomplish the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act

The new Strategic Projects are located in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.
They were selected from 102 applications received in the call for applications that concluded earlier
this year.
The projects cover different stages of the raw materials value chain: eight are on extraction, 11 on
processing, and 19 are recycling projects. In addition, there are eight integrated projects: three that
combine extraction and processing, and five that combine processing and recycling, supporting the
EU’s integrated value chain approach. The projects cover 15 of the 17 strategic raw materials under
the CRMA.

Value Chains in Batteries, Denfence and Aerospace

The projects will strengthen European value chains in batteries, defence and aerospace, and
permanent magnets. They include seven projects on lithium, 12 on nickel, 10 on cobalt, five on
manganese, and four on graphite, all of which support the EU battery value chain. The two projects on
magnesium and three on tungsten will contribute to defence and aerospace, while the four projects on
rare earth elements will support the permanent magnet value chain.
The 46 projects – combined with the 47 Strategic Projects in the EU and the 13 Strategic Projects in
third countries that were selected in March and June last year respectively –are expected to make a
significant contribution to achieving the EU’s CRM derisking and diversification targets. They could
fully meet the extraction benchmarks for lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, magnesium and
tungsten, and the processing benchmarks for lithium and rare earth elements. They could also cover
89% of the processing benchmark for cobalt and 57% and 51% for tungsten and magnesium
respectively, while fully meeting the recycling benchmarks for lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements.

Progress in relation to the first list of strategic projects

The Strategic Projects selected in 2025 are already progressing toward becoming operational. To
date, 25 Strategic Projects have completed their environmental impact assessment and 17 have
obtained a construction permit, thanks to the Single Points of Contact in Member States that help
accelerate permitting procedures.
With the RESourceEU communication from December last year, the EU is accelerating and amplifying
its efforts. Since the launch of RESourceEU, Team Europe has mobilised more than €2 billion in
financial support that has been committed through the Innovation Fund, State aid, and the European
Investment Bank. Several projects have made significant progress towards securing offtake
agreements. In addition, the Raw Materials Mechanism, established to aggregate demand and supply
and identify potential offtakers, has generated more than 30 matches for 10 materials.

Background

The CRMA entered into force on 23 May 2024. It establishes measures to strengthen the EU’s capacity
along the critical raw materials value chains and diversify its sources of supply. The Commission
launched two calls for applications for Strategic Projects. The first application call closed on 22 August
2024, and the second round closed on 15 January 2026.

For this second call, the Commission received 102 applications located in the EU across 18 Member
States. Of these, the Commission and external experts assessed 92 applications against the criteria
set by the CRMA, such as security of supply, technical feasibility, environmental, social and
governance standards, and cross-border benefits for the EU. Based on this assessment, the
Commission consulted with the Critical Raw Materials Board, composed of representatives of the
Member States, with the European Parliament participating as an observer.
The Commission will soon announce a new call for Strategic Project applications towards the end of
2026.